Evolve or Be Devastated
by BlackBlur87
Summary: Shorter Title now. Looking back, Ash realizes he misses Team Rocket. Despite the trouble they caused, life could still be considered good. Now that they're gone, it's his responsibility to protect the world from Devastation. If he can survive long enough.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I do not own pokémon or any of the characters, just the story. This story takes place just before Ash leaves for Shinnoh._

_A/N: "" means character speech_

_' ' means character thoughts_

Prologue

_(Future tense Year: Unknown)_

_Ash struggled to look up at the warped face of his opponent._

_ "Maybe if you hadn't come back, boy, you wouldn't be suffering like this." The evil man sneered as he pressed his foot into the small of Ash's back. Ash howled with pain, the pressure forcing him deeper into the earth's crust._

_"I had to try something. You were hurting innocent people!" Ash's muffled voice yelled. He felt the electrical power surging through his body, but it was completely useless against the man known as the leader of Team Devastation. Ash clenched his fist, he and his partner preparing to fire at least one final blast, but a rock-hard fist came crashing down; the force of the blow leaving Ash motionless at the bottom of a crater the size of Groudon. Ash clawed the dirt, feeling the life being drained from him, vaguely hearing the cackling of a mad man in the background before everything went black...  
_

* * *

_(Present Day)_

It's a seemingly peaceful night of fun and games at the annual Pallet Town Carnival. Team Rocket has been defeated, as well as Team Magma and Team Aqua. Our three heroes have gotten together with many friends from their travels so they can enjoy some time off before their next league challenge. Even the famous Professor Samuel Oak has put his research aside and decided to contribute to this special occasion by giving a lecture on pokémon habits for aspiring trainers in the very center. Our heroes have left their pokémon with Professor Oak so that he can give visual examples of the behavioral patterns of trained pokémon. Professor Oak has given our heroes plenty of time to enjoy themselves while he arranges his notes, so everyone splits up into groups and race to the four corners of the festival. But, all will not stay peaceful, as our heroes will find out all too soon…

* * *

A/N: I had the idea for this fic for a while now and I'm finally typing it out. More soon hopefully. Also, Check out my other fanfiction for Avatar: The Last Airbender and tell me what you think.


	2. Ch 1: Festival Fun

_Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters._

"**means character speech**_"_

'_**means character thoughts**'_

_( ) means pokemon language translation_

_- means POV change_

**Chapter 1: Festival Fun**

14-year old Ash Ketchum and his best friend, 14-year old Misty Waterflower, take in the all the sights of the carnival as they walk down the street. Misty sees a booth that excites her and runs off, leaving Ash to look around. Ash suddenly spies a game that's very familiar to him.

'_Well, we still have some time before we have to meet the others at Professor Oak's lecture,_' Ash thought. '_This could be my chance to finally impress Misty; then she'll have to take back what she said about me being a one-trick-ponyta!_' " Hey Misty!" Ash called out. Misty turned away from the goldeen scooping booth and walked over to him.

"What is it Ash?" she asked with a curious look on her face. A wide smile appeared on Ash's face. "I want you to check out my amazing skills at this game," Ash said proudly. " I don't mean to brag—"

"Who could possibly accuse you of that?" Misty interrupted. She smiled sweetly and waited for his reaction. Ash crossed his arms in front of his chest. Ash gave Misty a dirty look but she just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"As I was saying -before I was so rudely interrupted- I hold the town record for the target shooting game!" Ash bragged with pride, pointing his thumb at his chest like he was daring someone to challenge him.

"Typical Ash, having no clue about anything." A familiar voice said within the crowd. Ash turned around only to see 14-year old Gary Oak walking up to where he and Misty are standing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash questioned his former rival turned annoying semi-friend.

"I beat that pathetic record of yours two years ago," Gary stated smugly.

"R-Really?" Ash stammered.

"Of course I did," Gary replied with a nonchalant tone. "It was too easy."

"Oh yeah! Well who cares? I'll just take back the record!"

"You? Beat me?" Gary laughed, "Maybe in your dreams."

"Hey! I beat you in the Johto League, remember?" Ash reminded.

"Hmmph. That was a long time ago Ash, and this has nothing to do with Pokémon," Gary pointed out.

"Well it doesn't matter cause I'll beat you anyway!" Ash yelled. Misty noticed that the people walking by were staring at them. Her hand instinctively reached to her face to hide the embarrassed blush.

"Um, Ash? Is this really necessary?" She coyly peeked through her fingers wishing she could blend in like a Kecleon.

"Of course it is!" Ash yelled, "I'm gonna finally prove once and for all that I'm a million times better than he'll ever be!"

"Fine! If you want to lose in front of all these people Ash, be my guest!" Gary shouted loud enough for everyone within earshot to hear. Both he and Ash run over and they each pick up a rifle.

The Proprietor gives them the signal to start and neither boy wastes any time hitting every target that comes within range. Misty watched in awe at the skills that Ash was demonstrating.

'_Well, what do you know,_' She thought. '_I guess Ash can be good at things that don't involve Pokémon._'

Gary's triumphant cries break Misty's train of thought as she realizes that Ash lost by five targets. "And that would be game Ashy-boy," Gary gloated. The forgotten feeling of besting his rival was still satisfying.

"Grrrr… you just got lucky Gary!" Ash yelled. He balled his hands into fists, the desire to punch out his rival as tempting as ever.

"Cool it, Ash." Misty placed her hand on his shoulder in an effort to calm him down.

"Face it, Ashy-boy, you'll never be better than me," Gary taunted. He started walking off, feeling very pleased with himself.

"Why you," Ash began.

"Hey, Gary!" Misty interrupted. Gary turned around at the sound of his name. Seeing Misty's expression matching Ash's somehow increased his smug smile.

"What is it, red?" He asked innocently.

"I'll challenge you, and if I win, you have to stop giving Ash a hard time!" she declared.

"What's the matter Ash?" Gary taunted. "You need your _girlfriend_ to fight your battles for you?" Gary smiled as Ash's face turned red. Teasing him still hadn't lost its appeal. "She's not my—"

"What?" Misty interrupted again, "Is the famous Gary Oak afraid of losing to a girl?"

Gary looked around and saw that a bigger crowd was forming. Their eyes all fell on him as they awaited his response.

"Of course not," he answered. "I accept your challenge, but if I win, you have to be my personal assistant and do whatever I say!"

"Best of three okay with you?" Misty asked.

"Whatever." Gary responded in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone. By now a bigger crowd had formed to watch the grandson of the famous Professor Oak and some loud-mouthed girl square off in a battle of accuracy and skill. They picked up their rifles and wait for the proprietor. He gives them the okay to begin and both teenagers start firing.

"Gary's gonna waste that girl."

"No, I think she has a fair chance." And other comments can be heard from the spectators. Ash just stands there wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open in shock.

'_Misty's doing good!_' Ash thought. '_Heck she's doing better than I could with a guided missile and a target the size of a Snorlax._' But Gary was no slouch, and he was playing his best game ever. The contest continued to all the way to the third match.

"Nooooooooo!" yelled Gary. "I can't believe that I lost!"

It wasn't that Gary played a bad game; on the contrary, he had played an excellent game missing only seven targets total. Unfortunately for Gary though, Misty played an even better game because she didn't miss a single target.

"Yeah! I did it Ash!" Misty exclaimed, winking and flashing Ash the peace sign. She walked over to Ash with a proud look on her face and left Gary slouching with a defeated expression clouding his features.

"Why didn't you tell me you were so good, Misty?" Ash demanded.

"Well how was I supposed to know?" Misty defended. "This was my first time ever!" The crowd and Ash topple over from the weight of the revelation. Fresh tears run down Gary's face. '_Beaten by a noob!_' As everyone recovers from the discovery of Misty's inexperience, an ear-shattering explosion sounds east of our heroes near the center of the Carnival…

* * *

(While Ash Misty and Gary were competing, our other heroes were off having there own fun)

19-year old Brock Slate was busy walking through the crowd with a dejected look on his face. Upon closer inspection, a rather large handprint could be seen on either side of his face which could only mean one thing.

"Still alone. She wasn't the one either." Brock said sadly. He hung his head low and began dragging his feet across the ground being extremely careful not to step on Pikachu.

"Pika, pikachu pi pi pikachu," (Geez, Brock, this isn't exactly a new experience for you,) said Pikachu shaking his head.

"I know this is nothing new Pikachu, but I thought that leaving Ash and Misty alone would give them the chance to confess their feelings for each other, while giving me the chance to pick up girls without fear of Misty holding me back," Brock whined.

(A/N: Apparently in his distressed state, Brock is more in tune with the Pokémon language.)

"Pikachupi pichu, pikachu pika," (Misty doesn't hold you back, she yanks you back,) pointed out Pikachu.

"You're so right Pikachu!" said Brock a look of confidence overtaking his face, "They're plenty of girls in this world who would love a piece of Brock."

(A/N: Then again…)

Brock spies a pretty girl in the crowd and is prepared to enter his love-struck mode, when he hears a deafening explosion to the west, near the center of the carnival…

* * *

On the opposite side of the carnival, we see a little boy having his picture taken with… the legendary Zapdos! The Majestic yellow bird stood obediently in front of the camera.

"Excellent work, Ditto," A 15-year old girl with long, blue hair tied into pigtails complimented her Pokémon. The Zapdos chirped in delight before turning pink and shrinking down to reveal itself as a ditto.

"Thank you so much," says the boys mother as the photographer hands her the photo.

"It was my pleasure ma'am," replied a 14-year old boy with short, curly brown hair. The woman proceeds to thank the girl as well before taking off with her son to enjoy the rest of the carnival. The girl smiles as she looks up at the sign reading: **Have your picture taken with any Pokémon**.

"This was a really good idea, Todd." said the girl as she smiled at the young photographer.

"Well if you weren't here Duplica, it would have been just an idea." replied Todd Snap. Duplica Imité felt her face turn red.

"Well I'm just happy that I was able to help out a friend," she replied nervously.

"Still, you gave up your time to help me with this", Todd said gratefully. "I wish all my friends were this dependable."

Duplica smiled at the compliment, but before she could continue to exchange praises, she and Todd heard a loud explosion to the south, near the center of the carnival…

* * *

(A/N: These are all the same explosion because all of these events are happening simultaneously)

* * *

13-year old Ritchie Trainum was standing outside the batting cages watching his friends swing for all they're worth.

"Strike three!" He yelled as the visiting 15-year old Orange Island prophet, Melody Rose, swung and missed for the third time in a row.

(A/N: I know technically Melody wasn't really a prophet, but she did know about the legend and played a key role in ensuring that the prophecy came to pass.)

"DARN IT!" screamed Melody as she threw the bat down with a loud clang. "WHO CAME UP WITH THIS STUPID GAME ANYWAY!" That last comment didn't sit well with 11-year old Casey Ruth, a proud -and not afraid to show it, Electabuzz baseball team fan.

"Hey!" Casey shouted as she ran inside the batting cage. "Baseball isn't stupid! It's the greatest thing ever next to Pokémon!" she protested as she prepared to bat Melody a new one. Luckily for Melody, 18-year old Tracey Sketchit managed to get inside in time to restrain Casey from behind.

"Calm down, Casey!" Tracey pleaded with the struggling girl. "We don't want to get kicked out of here!" This revelation did little to calm Casey down and she attempted to bludgeon Tracey with her autographed bat screaming, "I don't care! Anyone who talks bad about baseball has it coming to them!" Tracey groaned, desperately struggling to keep Casey from killing anybody as Melody quickly hid behind Ritchie for protection.

"You know, Casey," Ritchie finally spoke up, "I don't think the Electabuzz team would take their bats and call 'to arms!' just because they heard some trash-talking spectators, right?" Casey immediately calmed down much to everyone's relief.

"Your right, Ritchie," said Casey as a wide grin overtook her face. "The Electabuzz know it's important to show good sportsmanship regardless of the actions of a few 'hostile people'." Everyone sighed in relief as it became apparent that there would be no bloodshed, but they immediately looked for the nearest exit as Casey raised her megaphone, signaling the start of her Electabuzz song. But before she could begin, a thunderous explosion could be heard north of them, near the center of the carnival where Professor Oak was preparing his lecture on Pokémon habits…

* * *

A/N: And here it is, the first full chapter. Things will hopefully only get better from here. I will update ASAP so don't go foaming at the mouth, unless you really like the story; then you can make all the suds you want. Read and review please!


	3. Ch 2: Carnival Chaos

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of its characters**

_"_**means character speech**_"_

_'**means character thoughts**'_

_( ) means pokemon language translation_

_- means POV change_

**Chapter 2: Carnival Chaos**

"What was that?" Ash stupidly asked as he stared at the smoke emerging from the site of the explosion.

"Who cares what it was?" Gary yelled as he sped off in the same direction of the explosion.

"Don't people normally run away from explosions?" Misty yelled after him. Gary stopped running and yelled back, "My grandpa is over there, and I can't just run away and leave him!" Gary turned and continued running.

"Oh no! Delia!" Misty exclaimed and she rushed after Gary.

"Hey, Misty! What are you talking about?" Ash questioned her fleeting form. Misty continued to run but called back, "Your Mom is with Professor Oak Ash!" Thirty seconds later, it hits him like a ton of bricks. "Oh my God! Mom!" Ash yelled and he took off as well...

* * *

Prior to the explosion, Samuel Oak was preparing his lecture for later that night. Samuel was particularly proud of his findings on the Pokémon's adaptation of hide-and-seek. He took a moment to look out at the already forming audience taking their seats when he heard a hissing sound from above and looked up to see a dangerous amount of blaster bombs heading in his direction. He stared up at them, frozen in place, as they quickly approached him. The distance between him and the explosives lessened until finally Delia Ketchum pulled him out of the way in the nick of time. Screams ring out as a result of the explosion at the podium that Samuel had been moments ago. The force of the explosion threw Delia and Samuel off the stage and flung them into the audience. Thankfully no one was caught in the blast but everyone is shaken up. However, damage is evident when the sound of metal screaming is heard as the Ferris wheel topples over and hits the nearby bumper car platform. No one has anytime to recollect him/herself before soldiers storm the area bearing strange weaponry and sporting red, green and black armor that covers their entire bodies and faces except for their mouths. One solitary soldier in all black marches over to the dazed Samuel and Delia.

"Come with us, Samuel," He orders.

"What is that you want from me?" Samuel asked as he stepped in between the soldier and Delia before she could interrupt and put herself in danger.

"You are a key element in our plans, so come with us willingly or we'll be forced to take necessary measures to ensure your cooperation," The soldier answered as he snapped his fingers. Three soldiers from the back walk up, two whom restrain Delia, while a third holds up a peculiar staff like weapon.

"What is that you think you are doing?" demanded Samuel. The soldier who is apparently their leader snapped his fingers again and another soldier walks over to a terrified woman in the audience holding one of those staff weapons as well. The leader snaps his fingers again and the soldier pushes a button on the staff which crackles with what appears to be electricity, which is confirmed when he pokes the woman, who violently shakes and screams from the merciless electrocution before she slumps to the ground unconscious.

A look of horror appears on Delia's face and she tries to turn her head to conceal it, but Samuel sees it anyway and knows that she is on the verge of tears. He looks around but can see no one who is capable of helping them, as there haven't been any Pokémon trainers from Pallet since Ash and Gary and none before for fifteen years. Samuel gritted his teeth and made his choice.

"Alright, I'll go with you, but only on the condition that you let this woman and the rest of these civilians leave here safely." The leader calmly walked over to Samuel and without warning, delivered a blow to the back of his head knocking him unconscious. "Sorry", the leader said without a hint of remorse in his voice, "but you don't make the rules."

"Samuel!" Delia cried out with tears in her eyes as she struggled against her captors.

"Take the Professor back to the airship!" ordered the soldier in black. "And while you're at it, take this women as well! She may prove to be an excellent inspirational tool in case the good professor forgets why he's working with no objections."

"Right!" the troops yell unanimously.

"Hold it!" a voice yells amongst the crowd.

The lead soldier turned around to identify the source of the outburst and was surprised to find some kid with messy black hair covered by a cap standing next to a scrawny red-headed girl standing there defiantly.

"You're not taking my mother or Professor Oak anywhere!" yelled the boy.

"Ash run! Get out of here!" Delia screamed as she and Samuel are being dragged away.

"Not without you, Mom!" Ash yelled as he rushed forward with Misty close behind…

* * *

Meanwhile, Brock was still running west to the center of the carnival with Pikachu at his heels. Unlike Ash, Brock immediately figured out that Professor Oak and Delia were possibly in danger, but he had been the furthest away from the explosion and it didn't help that he had more than his fair share of panicked citizens running in his direction. Fortunately, he did have the advantage of being able to see over most of the heads in the crowd and he looked tough enough to encourage some of the more vertically challenged people to move out of his path or risk getting run over by the determined breeder. Brock was running as fast as he could even going as far as to tap into the legendary speed that allowed him to hit on 80 girls in a 1 mile radius in under 45 minutes. Of course, Brock's mind wasn't on flirting with some pretty girl at the moment. He was determined to get to the center of the carnival as fast as possible and nothing could distract him fro—

'_Whoa!_' thought Brock. '_Is that Officer Jenny?_' And sure enough, Brock's suspicions were correct as he finds one of the seemingly hundreds, if not thousands, of Officer Jennies that are out there. Brock dodged through the people running in every direction and got down on one knee.

"Officer Jenny, You are the single sign of order in a world of chaos. Just one look at you makes me want to stop what I'm doing and pay attention to all that you have to teach me about safety and regulations." Brock's syrupy voice full of flattery was in full swing. "By the way, do you home school?" Brock heard the crackling of lightning and looks down to find one very impatient Pikachu about to thundershock him. Brock gulped as he looked for a reasonable explanation for his behavior and looked to Officer Jenny for inspiration, only to realize that she hadn't heard a word he's said. Brock face-faulted which caused Officer Jenny to finally take notice of his existence.

"Hey! You on the ground!" she yelled, "Get up and help me move this! Hurry!" Brock is rejuvenated at the sound of her voice but before he can go into flirtation round two, he, hears a voice coming from behind some felled rooftop from the bumper-car arena.

"Is somebody trapped under there?" Brock questions. Officer Jenny struggles to move the debris but managed to respond, "Nurse Joy and a little girl are beneath all this rubble. No one is hurt but we need to get them out of here." Brock nods and rushes over to lend his assistance and starts pushing on the debris as well. He looks down and sees an anxious Pikachu struggling to help.

"Pikachu" Brock grunts, "Go find help! Hurry!" Pikachu nods and uses agility to dash through the crowd to go find help from someone. He catches a familiar scent and dashes off to find its source…

(A/N: Yeah, the crowd is completely pointless when it comes to everything except for getting into trouble and verifying that people other than the main characters exist.)

* * *

On the north side of the carnival, Todd and Duplica were running south because like Brock, they had also realized that the explosion originated from the same location that Professor Oak and Ms. Ketchum were supposed to be and that they could be in danger. They were dodging through the crowd when they head a desperate "Pikapi!" (Ash!), and they looked down spotting Pikachu frantically searching for someone or something. "Pikachu!" they called out, their voices reaching the tiny mouse Pokémon's ears causing Pikachu to look up in relief at seeing his friends.

"Pika! Pika pikachu pika pi chu!" (Help! Nurse Joy is in trouble and Brock's trying to help Officer Jenny rescue her!) Todd's forehead knitted in confusion.

"Um, Duplica… did you catch any of that?" Duplica turned to face him and gave him a nervous smile.

"I think he said something about Brock… and about helping Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny." Todd groaned.

"Doesn't he have any self-control?" he asked. He motioned for Pikachu to lead the way so he and Duplica can follow. They continue running until the size of the panic stricken crowd caused Todd and Duplica to lose sight of Pikachu.

"Which way did he go?" Todd asked Duplica.

"Um, I think he went in this direction," Duplica said as she pointed to her left. They continue running, and it wasn't long before they heard shouts coming from ahead of them. They climb on nearby tables to get a look at what's causing the commotion and Duplica catches a glimpse of Misty's red hair in the crowd. Her eyes drift over to a familiar hat, which could only belong to Ash, as he rushes towards someone in the crowd that she can't make out because someone tall cuts in front of her field of vision.

"Look over there!" Todd shouted and Duplica gazes in the direction that Todd is pointing and gasps as she sees two people, who appear to be soldiers, leading a sobbing Ms. Ketchum away while a third has an unconscious Professor Oak draped over his shoulder. Duplica takes off in their direction immediately followed closely by Todd as they hope to intercept them before they get away. Unfortunately, their actions don't go unnoticed and they are stopped short by one of the soldiers who is holding a weird looking staff…

* * *

Meanwhile, Ritchie and the gang were running full sprint to the center of the carnival. "Richie! Tracey! Wait for us!" yelled the girls as they struggled to keep up with the boys running in front of them. The boys stop just long enough for Melody and Casey to catch up before running at full speed again, much to the disdain of the already exhausted girls. Melody groaned as she struggles to keep her sandals from slipping off. Sure they went well with both her headdress and casual clothes, but she was seriously wishing she had thought to bring shoes...

"Can't you slow down a bit?" Melody asked. Tracey looked over is shoulder and saw the predicament that Melody was in but he knew that they couldn't afford to waste any time.

"We can't slow down Melody," Tracey called back, "Professor Oak and Ms. Ketchum are over there! What if they're in trouble?" Melody sighed as she realized that he was right and resigned herself to focusing on keeping her sandals on. She didn't have to focus long before she crashed into their halted forms and landed on her butt.

"Owww!" she exclaimed, "HEY! WHY'D YOU STOP ALL OF A SUDDEN!" she screamed at them as she picked herself off the ground. She doesn't get a response, but managed to figure it out when she saw the hulking forms of two soldiers blocking their path…


	4. Ch 3: Imprisoned and Airlifted

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters**

"**means character speech**"

'_**means character thoughts**'_

_( ) means pokemon language translation_

_- means POV change _

**Chapter 3: Imprisoned and Airlifted**

Ash rushed at the enemy's leader without hesitation only to have two grunts get in his way. He narrowly dodged the larger one's punch and slid underneath his legs. The soldier turned around in surprise only to be hit from behind by Misty's mallet. As he fell, the soldier desperately reached out and managed to grab hold of Misty's leg as she ran past him; of course, had he known about Misty's temper, he wouldn't be back on the ground with a large lump protruding from his helmet covered head.

The other soldiers watched these antics with amused grins and curious glances as the teens continued forward. They watched Ash struggle to get past his next opponent after his sliding maneuver failed. Ash began throwing a flurry of punches as fast as he could just trying to land a blow, but his opponent skillfully dodged and deflected each attempt at a hit. Ash gave up on speed and tried one solid punch, but that left him open for his opponent to deflect his punch and knock him off balance, sending him teetering to the left. Ash's opponent brought his right knee up intending to connect with Ash's face, but Ash's reflexes proved to be great as he used his opponent's strike to steady himself and push off into the air. The soldier threw a hard left attempting to knock him out of the air, but Ash rolled along the soldier's arm and wrapped his arms around the soldier's neck pulling him into a DDT. The soldier let out a groan, but Ash was already out of earshot as he closed the gap between himself and the lead soldier.

'_Why aren't his buddies helping him out anymore?_' Ash wondered as he threw a hard punch, but his thought was quickly answered when the soldier in black sidestepped his attack and delivered a lightning fast roundhouse kick to Ash's side, sending him flying into the dirt where he struggled to get up. Upon seeing the violent act towards Ash, Misty's temper peaked. She rushed forward with her mallet held high with both hands, preparing to deliver a double-handed overhead smash, only to witness his amazing skills first hand as he caught her strike with one hand, and obliterated her mallet with the other fist. Misty looked at the pieces left from her once proud mallet and is left speechless, but she has no time to be sentimental before he continues the assault. He swiftly punches her in the gut, knocking her unconscious, and throws her body into the recovering Ash, causing him to black out as well.

'_They fought well,_' the soldier thought. '_Perhaps we can find a use for them._' He motions for the earlier defeated soldiers to take the unconscious teens back to the air ship. The grunt that Ash slammed rubs his sore neck with one hand while he drags Ash by the collar with the other. Following close behind was the grunt Misty hammered, who paused only to stomp on the remains of her mallet before draping the unconscious girl over his shoulder and following the first grunt to the location of the airship. '_There could be more valuable subjects in this dump, we should probably bring a few "volunteers" if we happen upon any,_' The soldier in black took out a small communications device and proceeded to give the orders for all units to capture anyone who puts up a fight directly or has a connection to the newly captured trainers…

* * *

Meanwhile, Duplica and Todd had stumbled into some trouble as well. About seven feet of trouble, holding a strange staff weapon. Duplica stopped cold in front of the looming figure. Todd stepped forward and extended his arm protectively in front of her.

"Get out of our way!" Todd shouted with a look of determination. The soldier calmly walked over to them, and before either teen had a chance to react, punched Todd in the stomach causing him to double over in pain. The soldier raised his staff and prepared to deliver a fatal blow to the incapacitated boy, when Duplica tackled him from the side and wrestled him to the ground. Duplica struggled to pull the weapon out of the soldiers hands, but he is far too strong for her. He presses a button located on the staff and jabs her with the tip, causing Duplica to scream in pain as electricity flows through her body. Duplica feels her body going numb before she collapses, unconscious.

Todd stared in horror at Duplica's limp body. "What did you do to her!" Todd charges forward in a fit of rage, only to have the soldier strike him with the electro-staff. Todd screams as the electricity courses through his body. He hears the sound of a blunt object being smashed to pieces before he slips into unconsciousness '_If I can survive this, then Duplica must be alive!_' Todd realizes before everything goes black. The soldier picks them up and places Duplica on his shoulder while he carries Todd underneath his arm and begins walking to the airship…

* * *

While this was going on, Ritchie, Casey, Tracey and Melody weren't being left out of the "fun". Ritchie quickly switched into a fighting stance while Tracey frantically looked around for anything that could be used as a weapon. "Tracey! Catch!" yelled Casey as she threw him her baseball bat just as the attacker lashed out with his staff. Tracey had just enough time to bring up the bat to defend himself.

"Thanks, Casey!" he called out. "Now take Melody and keep running! Ritchie and I will hold them off while you two escape." A flash a light shone in the distance and a girl's piercing scream could be heard.

"What are you talking about?" yelled Casey. "We're not about to leave you two to get hurt!" Another flash of light illuminated the sky followed by a boy's pained shouting. Melody shudders at the sound but nods her head in agreement. Ritchie barely manages to get out of the way of his opponent's attack. He catches the soldier off-balance and kicks him in the back of the knee which causes him to fall to ground, low enough for him to deliver an elbow to the back of the soldier's head, knocking him down the rest of the way. He proceeds to wrestle the soldier to gain possession of his weapon, but when he looks up, he sees that the girls are frozen in place.

"What are you still doing here?" he yells as the soldier tries to maintain his grip on the weapon. "We can't keep this up forever!" Neither girl moves from their positions. Tracey swings the bat at his opponent, but can't seem to connect with anything. He notices the girls and yells "Would you two get out of here? If we all get killed, who's supposed to help Ms. Ketchum and Professor Oak?"

"But Tracey…" pleads Melody as she takes a step forward.

"Just go! Quickly!" Tracey yells as he deflects another attack.

"But…" Melody began.

"C'mon. Let's go Melody," says Casey. Casey covers her face with the brim of her cap, but Melody can still see tears running down her face. "You'd better come back alive, guys." Casey whispers.

"Don't worry, we will." Richie replied as he dodged another strike from his adversary.

"Because," Casey continued, "You still have my ticket to this weekend's Electabuzz game in your backpack, Ritchie!" She shouted as she ran past him. Richie sweat-dropped as he dodged another attack from the soldier's staff. Melody remained rooted in her position witnessing Tracey fight for all that he's worth.

She runs past him whispering "You better be okay after this you big dork." Tracey's opponent tried to attack Melody while her back is turned, but Tracey quickly gets in between them and blocks the attack. He held his position until the girls were out of sight before executing a shoulder charge into the soldier followed by a successful blow to the enemy's head. Tracey takes a second to glance at Ritchie's situation and sees the young trainer rolling on the ground as he barely manages to avoid another attack. But before Tracey could rush in to assist his partner, Tracey's opponent comes rushing towards him forcing Tracey to get into a ready position.

Ritchie gets off the ground just as his opponent strikes the ground where he was at moments ago. Ritchie starts breathing heavily as he quickly tries to regain his composure. '_I know I'm putting up a good fight, but my opponent doesn't seem to be tired at all, and I can barely stand,_' Ritchie thinks as he glances over at Tracey and sees that the determined Pokémon watcher is on his back while trying to keep his opponent from striking him with his staff, which now seems to be crackling with electricity. He doesn't have time to wonder where the soldier picked up that little trick because his opponent rushes forward with an electrified staff intent on finishing the match with his next move. Ritchie knows that he doesn't have the energy to waste dodging strike after strike, so he waits for his opponent to come in close. Just as his opponent starts swinging, Ritchie grabs hold of the middle of the staff and uses his opponent's own momentum to catapult him in Tracey's direction.

"Tracey!" Richie yelled in time to alert him of the oncoming human projectile. Tracey shifted his weight and kicked his opponent in the chest, causing him to raise his body high enough to make a perfect target for his accomplice's electro-staff and receives a nasty shock for his troubles, while involuntarily shocking his ally back. The two soldiers shake violently and collapse, unconscious. Ritchie and Tracey stand up and walk over to their defeated opponents and exchange high-fives for the job well done. They each pick up an electro staff and pause to figure out the correct procedure to turn them off, as they wanted to avoid an unnecessarily painful experience. Tracey smiles as he throws Ritchie Casey's bat.

"You should be the one to return that to her. After all, we both know that she won't kill you when she sees the state it's in." he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Ritchie. Something began stirring in his stomach and he shifted uncomfortably.

"You still have her ticket, so she won't get it back if she kills you," Tracey explained, "What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing I guess. Now let's go," said Ritchie as both boys run to catch up with the girls…

* * *

Brock and Officer Jenny were still trying to clear the debris that trapped Nurse Joy and a little girl, but they weren't making much progress with just the two of them pushing. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but the wreckage needed to be cleared away before they ran out of oxygen to breath. Brock gritted his teeth as he pushed with all his might, but those rocks weren't going to move without a few extra hands.

"Brock!" a girls voice called out. Brock turned around excitedly, but was quickly disappointed when he saw Casey standing in front of him with Melody not too far behind. His look of disappointment disappeared when he noticed that Casey has been crying.

"What's the matter Casey?" Brock asked.

"It's…It's…"Casey stammered.

"Tracey and Ritchie are in trouble!" Melody answered and Casey quickly nodded. "What are you doing anyways?" asked Melody.

"Oh my gosh, I nearly forgot! Nurse Joy and a little girl are trapped underneath this rubble!" Brock explained as he went back to work.

"Oh no! Are they okay?" Melody asked

"Yeah," Brock grunted, "but we need to move these rocks before they run out of air to breathe!" Melody hurried over and began pushing alongside Brock and Officer Jenny, but Casey remains still. Brock noticed that Casey hadn't moved and called her name, snapping her out of her daze. "I'm not sure what kind of trouble they're in, but the faster we get this done, the faster we can go help them!" Casey takes a step forward and looks back with a worried expression.

"Don't worry, they're strong!" Melody reassures her. Casey turns her head and nods as she runs over to help. A few well-coordinated pushes and the rocks begin to move.

"Okay everyone, just a little more!" calls out Officer Jenny. Everyone puts in maximum effort and slowly, but surely, the crushed ceiling began moving out of the way. A few more pushes and the broken chunks of ceiling fall aside revealing a relieved Nurse Joy in plain clothes holding a small girl in her arms. Everyone cheers before falling to the ground exhausted. No one was prepared for a support beam to topple over as it headed straight for Nurse Joy and the little girl. They closed their eyes and the little girl screamed as they waited for the beam to strike them…

"If you can move… then please do so, because this thing… is very heavy." A voice instructed. Nurse Joy opened her eyes and was shocked to see an exhausted Brock struggling to hold up the beam. As hard as he tried the best Brock could do with his sweaty hands was slow its descent. Without good footing, every second he was pushed further back. Nurse Joy picked up the girl and quickly moved out of the way as Brock let go and dove to the side to avoid being crushed himself. The beam struck the rocks behind them and broke off a sizable chunk of rock. Everyone races to Brock's side out of concern and are relieved to find out that he is unharmed. A few moments more and Brock is able to use his arms to prop himself up.

"Are you and the girl okay Nurse Joy?" he asks.

Nurse Joy smiles warmly at him and replies, "We're just fine thanks to you and your friends." Brock sighs in relief before turning to Casey and Melody. "Sorry," he apologizes, "but I think I'm spent for awhile. I can't get up."

Casey shakes her head. "It's okay Brock, Melody is right." she says glancing at Melody who smiles and nods, "Tracey and stupid Ritchie are probably fine. We've still got to check on Professor Oak and Ms. Ketchum." Casey stands up when she hears a voice call out to her.

"If I'm so stupid, then why'd you forget that you left your ticket back at Ash's house?" Casey turned around to see none other than Ritchie with his hands behind his head, grinning like an idiot. The sight of her friend unharmed brings fresh tears to her eyes. "Ritchie!" Casey cries as she runs towards him arms spread wide. Ritchie smiles as he opens his arms wide to receive her.

"You brought my bat back!" says Casey happily as she grabs her bat from his bag and hugs it tight causing Ritchie to face-fault while everyone laughs. "What did you do to it?" Casey exclaims in shock after a closer examination reveals that it has dents and scratches all over it. Casey raises the bat over her head and Ritchie, fearing that his end is near, closes his eyes and sighs as he mentally lists over all of the things that he will never get to do, but is surprised when he hears the bat fall to the ground whilst Casey pulls him close and wraps her arms around his neck as she cries happy tears into his shoulder for his safe return. Melody looks on with mixed feelings. She's happy that Ritchie is safe, but she can't help but fear that the reason that Ritchie had Casey's bat was because something happened to Tracey…

Her concerns take a back seat when someone grabs her shoulders from behind. She immediately kicks her attacker's leg out and proceeds to fling him over her shoulder and looks down to see Tracey on his back, smiling up at her. Her emotions quickly shift from happy to see him, to angry with him for scaring her just now as she raises her leg to stomp his face, the only thing stopping her is Brock grabbing her from behind. Seeing that his mortal life is in danger, Tracey quickly gets up and tries to apologize, but Melody turns around and crosses her arms. Tracey puts his arms down with a defeated sigh and slowly turns away, but he's stopped when he feels someone grabbing him from behind. He turns his head and sees a smiling Melody wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face into his back, fighting back her own tears of relief. Tracey turns around and embraces her as well and she looks up.

"Sorry for scaring you, Melody," Tracey apologizes. He studies her tear-streaked face and feels even guiltier. Melody shakes her head.

"Just don't do it again," She warns. As she stares up at him, she can feel her heart beating in what she takes to be relief for his safety.

"You know guys, this is very touching and all, but we still have to check on Professor Oak and Delia." Brock pointed out.

This gets the attention of the floor blushing teens as they realized the positions they were in. Officer Jenny takes the girl from Nurse Joy and offers to help after she has located the little girl's parents.

The roaring of engines draws everyone's focus to the skies above as an unidentified aircraft flies overhead. Officer Jenny's walkie-talkie bleeps and she picks it up and puts it to her ear. What she hears shocks her into dropping her walkie-talkie on rock, breaking it in half. Everyone has confused looks on their faces so she explains.

"That was an eyewitness report about the abduction of civilians from Pallet Town. I'm sorry, but has been confirmed that Professor Oak and a woman presumed to be Delia Ketchum were amongst those captured," Officer Jenny allows time for the news to sink in before she continues.n"There have also been reports of four teenagers who have been abducted as well. The son of Delia Ketchum, The Cerulean City Gym Leader, the boy who took the photos of the legendary Pokémon: Aerodactyl and Articuno, and the heir to the Imité house."

Brock stood there with his mouth hanging open, and not because both Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy were standing within 10 feet of him, although he had to admit that was a definite positive. He looks at the expressions on his friend's faces and knows that they have also realized that the four captured teens are none other than Ash, Misty, Todd and Duplica. A thought finally hits Brock.

"What about Pikachu? And Ditto?" Brock asked Officer Jenny.

"I'm afraid there were no reports made about the whereabouts of any Pokémon." She replies.

"Ditto!" a voice cries out and everyone turns to see a Ditto that could only be Duplica's. Melody runs over and picks it off the ground. "Duplica must have dropped Ditto's pokéball when she was captured." Tracey speculated.

"How are we going to rescue them?" asked Casey.

"Our Pokémon are still backstage where Professor Oak put them." Ritchie pointed out, "We could fly after them." Officer Jenny had heard enough.

"I don't want to hear any plans to interfere with police business, do I make myself clear? After I help this girl find her parents, I'll organize a rescue party. If you interfere, I will not hesitate to arrest you all!" Officer Jenny barked as she took hold of the girl's hand and led her away.

* * *

(A/N: And like all true heroes do…)

* * *

Brock waited until Officer Jenny was out of sight before speaking up. "That's sounds like a good idea, but you're forgetting that the only flying Pokémon we have are your Charizard, my Crobat, Casey's Beedrill, Ash's Swellow and somewhere on the outskirts of Pallet, Ash's Pidgeot. That may be enough to get the five of us airborne, but it won't be enough on the return trip." Ritchie sighed as he realized that Brock was right.

"We probably couldn't even catch up to it seeing as how fast it was going." Casey pointed out.

"Um, excuse me." Everyone looks at Nurse Joy as she speaks for the first time. "I don't have any flying types, but I want to help too." Brock smiled.

"That's very kind of you, but we don't want to put you in danger," Brock informed her, but Nurse Joy was determined to help.

"But you saved my life, I can't just let that go unpaid," She reminded. "So if your friends are in trouble, I'm going to help you rescue them and I won't take no for an answer because this isn't a question." Brock's mouth opened and shut a few times as he tried to find a response.

"Hey! I got it!" Tracey exclaimed as he caught his fist in his palm. "What if we use Mr. Mime's teleport to get onto that airship?" Everyone grows excited at that brilliant idea, but Melody is still skeptical.

"But by the time we ran over to Ash's house, we'd probably be out of range," Melody pointed out. Everyone got disappointed again as the truth rings out of Melody's words.

"But, what if we fly to Ash's house?" Ritchie lets his question hang in the air. Bright smiles return to the rescue party's faces as they run backstage to grab their Pokéballs…

* * *

A/N: Yaaay! Another chapter done, but still no reviews on how well or how poorly I've done. Three stories up, one completed and two in-progress, and only a few reviews between them. C'mon people. I know you're out there. I need morale boosters. Am I staying in character? Am I providing enough action? You have to tell me these things.


	5. Ch 4: Escape

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters**

"**means character speech**"

'**_means character thoughts_**'

( ) means poke language translation

- means POV change

**Chapter 4: Escape**

"Prepare for Trouble!"

"And make it Double!"

"To protect the world from Devastation!"

"To unite all people in every nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"NOOOOOO! I thought you guys had given up! "Ash yelled.  
An explosion sends Team Rocket blasting off, and they disappear twinkle-star style leaving a bewildered Ash on the ground.

'_What was that?_' Ash wondered. '_I didn't tell Pikachu to attack._'  
Ash looks around and realizes that Pikachu isn't on his shoulder, and none of his friends or family are around either.

"Hey Pikachu! Misty! Brock! Mom! Professor Oak! Tracey! Gary! Is anybody out there?" Ash yelled, as he looked through the endless void around him. He looks up and his jaw drops when he sees a giant 'D' coming down. He quickly runs to avoid being crushed, but it starts dropping faster.

'_I'm not going to make it!_' He thinks as his he makes a desperate dive. He jumps too short and looks up at the monstrous alphabet letter about to crush him. Ash puts his arms in front of him as he closes his eyes. Feeling nothing, Ash slowly opens his eyes and makes a startling discovery.

Looking around it's clear that he is in a jail cell proven by the large metal bars where a door would be. Ash glances to his left and sees that Misty, Todd and Duplica are there with him. He hurriedly flips over and breathes a sigh of relief as their silent breathing wipes his concerns away. Ash grabs hold of Misty's shoulder and calls her name as he gently shakes her. Seeing that she refuses to wake up, Ash grabs both of her shoulders and shakes her harder.

"Misty! Wake up already!"

Misty wakes up immediately and frantically looks around until her eyes lock on to the smiling face of her mischievous friend. Her emotions quickly go from confusion to anger as she raises her fist with full intention of hitting Ash so hard his kids and possibly her own will feel it for years to come. Ash stops smiling as his dreams of becoming a Pokémon Master look impossible for this lifetime, as it might not be for much longer. He closes his eyes and prepares to go to that great big league challenge in the sky. Several seconds pass and still no spiritual announcing of his arrival to the heavenly tournament. He slowly opens his eyes and expects to see Misty's mallet coming for his face, but all he sees is Misty clutching her knees to her chest with a somber look on her face.

"What's wrong Misty? Normally you'd have given me a concussion by now, but you haven't even given me a headache." Misty turned to him and sighed.

"I'm not going to hit you with my mallet Ash, because I don't have it." She answered before turning back around and resuming her silence.

"What happened to it?" Ash asked, still confused.

"They broke it Ash, they broke my mallet into a million pieces." She answered with another sigh. Ash sat there scratching his head.

"Wow. And here I thought they were the bad guys. Guess you can't judge a book by its cover," Ash laughed at that thought. But he laughed a little too sincerely, which was made obvious by the echo of Misty's fist colliding with Ash's empty head.

The sound of the blow reached the ears of Todd causing him to open his eyes. His first thoughts were '_Geez, I feel like I've been hooked up to a generator and fried with 10, 000 volts of electricity!_' He instantly sat up as his memories of what happened flooded back causing him to cry out in alarm, startling Ash and Misty into silence.

"Duplica!" Todd yelled as he shook her. "Answer me! Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine once you stop!" she shouted causing Todd to flinch, resulting in him loosing his grip on her shoulders followed by a smack as her head collided with the floor.

"Oww," she moaned as she rubbed the newly formed bump on her head. She looks around and sees the smiling faces of her friends. "Where are we?"

"We're in some kind of prison but I'm not really sure where the prison is exactly." Ash answers.

"But where are your mom and Professor Oak?" she inquired.

Ash looks around and a surprised expression appears on his face as it dawns on him that his mom and Professor Oak are nowhere to be found.

(A/N: Yeah, yeah. We all know Ash is a dim bulb that didn't start off with much wattage to begin with.)

Ash stands up and runs to the cell door and looks around, but he can't see anybody in any of the surrounding cells. He desperately tries pulling one the bars, but to no avail.

"Geez Ash. You're not exactly a Machoke, so instead of wasting your energy, why don't you try helping us come up with a plan. You can start by not distracting us with your pitiful attempts at playing superman," Misty scolded. Ash ignored her and kept pulling with all his might. Misty sighed in exasperation, but those sighs quickly turned into screams of panic and concern when an electric current ran through the bars, shocking Ash and sending him flying into the opposite wall.

"Ash! Are you okay?" Misty yelled as she Duplica and Todd run over to him.

(A/N: Why do people ask such stupid questions. Questions like, "Would you be okay if you got electrocuted and thrown into a wall?")

Ash manages to squeak out a "yeah" without too much difficulty, suddenly thankful he has been on the receiving end of Pikachu's thunder attacks for the past few years. After a few of those, you start to build a tolerance for 'shock treatments'. Of course, it must have been a little more than he was used to because a strange ringing sound could be heard that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Ash bolted up at the thought of one of his friends laughing at him, but those thoughts were put aside when he looked upon the concerned faces of Todd and Duplica, neither of them the source of the laughter.

"Darn it Misty! I can't believe—" He stopped short when he saw the tears forming on her eyes.

'_Was she really that worried about me?_' he wondered. '_I haven't seen her cry like this since that time in Lavender Town, when she thought I died after that chandelier came down on top of me and Pikachu._'  
Before Ash could figure out what was going on, the source of the laughter made itself known. Everyone looked at the cell door as another soldier approached from the left of the door and stopped once they got to the center. This soldier seemed a bit different however. For starters, this one was a woman, proven by her long black hair flowing out the back of her helmet, as well as the extra surface area of her chest. Her armor was also different as well because it was colored red, blue, and green.

"What's so funny?" Ash demanded as he ran to the cell door being careful not to touch the bars.

"You are," the soldier replied as she laughed manically. "I never get tired of watching stupid prisoners blasting off the bars once they get a taste of the current."

'_Great. Another crazy girl who gets her kicks out of other peoples misfortunes,_' Ash thought as he glared at the woman.

"Where are we and why'd you kidnap us? And where are Professor Oak and Ms. Ketchum?" Todd asked.

The woman stopped laughing and gave Todd a seductive smile as she studied him from head to toe.

"Well, since your buddy entertained me, I guess I can answer your questions, handsome." Duplica tensed up as she clenched her fists. There something about this Miltank that she really didn't like.

"I haven't been notified of the reason for your capture, but I do know that the woman is being held in a cell directly below this one, while the good Professor is being enlightened about our glorious plans and the role he plays in them." The woman leaned over and cupped Todd's chin on her right hand. "Does that answer all of your questions, handsome?" Todd smiled back.

"All but one, but it's kind of embarrassing so, do you think you can lean a bit closer so I can whisper it in your ear?"

The woman nodded and smiled as she put her head closer to the bars and turned her head to the side. Todd cupped her chin in a similar fashion that she had done to him. Todd felt a red aura of anger emanating from behind him, but he continued to put his face near the bars. The soldier nodded her head as Todd whispered something no one else could hear. She smiled in anticipation and the smile remained on her face as Todd slammed her head into the bars, knocking her unconscious. Ash Misty and Duplica stared at Todd with their mouths hanging open as he reached through the bars of the cage and grabbed a card key from her waist. Todd walked over to the left side of the cage and swiped the card through the slot, which was followed by a beep, a click, and the cell door opening up. Todd stepped outside and turned around and discovered that his friends were staring at him.

"What?" Todd asked them.

"H-How…when did you…how'd you..?" Misty stammered through the question.

"Huh?"

"How'd you get us out of there?" Ash clarified as he stepped out of the cell.

"Oh…that."

"Yeah. That. How the heck did you know how to get us out of there anyway?" asked Duplica as she and Misty exited the cell.

"Well, the first thing I looked was a way to open the door. I couldn't see a padlock anywhere, but I did notice the odd panels next to the cells on the other side of the wall and I figured you needed a card key to unlock the door." Misty raised her hand.

"But how did you know that she had a card key?" she asked.

"Well, I didn't at first, but when she grabbed my chin, I saw her grasping onto something in the other hand.

"But there was a lock on either side. How'd you know which one was which?" Ash asked completely stumped.

Todd chuckled. "Geez, Ash. You of all people should have some clue about that."

Ash stared blankly at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, don't you remember something strange about your little shock treatment?" Ash shook his head causing Misty to sigh.

"C'mon, Ash. How about the fact that it was at least two minutes before you got shocked." Misty pointed out causing Ash to shrug.

"Oh, I get it!" Duplica exclaimed, sweat-dropping as she looked at Misty strangling Ash out of frustration. "The bars didn't shock Ash right away because it wasn't automatic. That woman must have had to activate it and since she came from the left…"

"The panel on our left had to be the panel that controlled our door." Todd finished.

"That was really smart Todd." Duplica complimented causing Todd to blush.

"Actually most of the credit goes to you." Todd replied making Duplica scratch her head in bewilderment.

"What are you talking about?"

Todd smiled. "It's because I watched so many of your wonderful performances that I was able to keep a straight face. She was one of those disgusting types of people I can't stand to share air with. Now I'm even more impressed that you can keep your cool the way you do." Duplica blushed at the praise for her performances as well as her reaction to the whole ordeal. Ash nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, Duplica. You're the complete opposite of Misty when it comes to keeping your cool," Ash responded the moment Misty released him. Misty in turn allowed Ash the rare opportunity to see a whole nebula of stars before she pushed the unconscious soldier into the empty cell and locked the door with another swipe from the key card.

"C'mon, let's go get Delia," Misty grumbled as she motioned for all able bodies to follow her. She started walking to end of the hallway, followed closely by Duplica and Todd, to what appeared to be an elevator. Realizing that he was being left behind, Ash hurriedly rose from his position on the floor.

"Hey wait up!" Ash called ahead…

* * *

Delia Ketchum sat alone in her cell as she waited for Samuel to come back. '_Why did they kidnap us?_' she wondered. '_It sounds like they need Samuel, but what reason could they possibly have for keeping me here?_' She sighed as she looked at the solid steel door in front of her. '_Oh Ash, I hope you and Misty are okay. It wouldn't be fair if those brutes kidnapped you too. You both have your whole lives ahead of you._

'

"YOU TWO ARE SUPPOSED TO GET MARRIED AND GIVE ME GRANDCHILDREN!" Delia's screams echoed throughout the cell.

"Identify yourself!" The guard outside Delia's cell ordered at another soldier who approached.

"Captain Archer requests the presence of this prisoner to keep the Professor motivated." Responded the new soldier in a suspiciously young-sounding voice.

"Impossible. I would have been notified of such a thing." The guard glared suspiciously at the new guy. "Who are yo—AHHHHHH!" he screamed as a yellow streak flew past him.

"Piikaaaaaa!" (Eat this!) the electric pokémon shouted as he let loose a thunderbolt, which gave the guard a painful experience before he slumped to the floor unconscious. The new soldier reached over and pulled the card key from the guard's waist before proceeding to unlock the door of Delia's cell.

"Who are you?" Delia asked, her voice shaking with terror and an uncertain fate.

"It's okay Delia." Said Samuel as he stepped out of his hiding place. "This young trainer is on our side." The soldier nodded as Pikachu stood by his feet.

"Ash, is that you?" asked a hopeful Delia…

* * *

A/N: How's that for a cliffie? Tell me who you think it is. I have to type up the next few chapters before I can post again so it may take awhile. In the meantime, if you haven't already read my Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfictions, go ahead and enjoy those stories and tell me what you think.


	6. Ch 5: Abandon Ship

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters. If I did, Traveling NPCs would be part of all the games**.

**Chapter 5: Abandon Ship**

"Are we there yet?" whined Melody as she and Tracey were flying on Pidgeot's back, who luckily came to investigate the source of the disturbance and readily agreed to help when she discovered that Ash was in danger.

"We're going as fast as we can Melody," Casey said from above, being carried by her Beedrill.

"Does anyone have any ideas on what we should do once we get inside that airship?" Tracey asked from his sitting position in front of Melody.

"How bout we port in, bust up the place, take names, and escape dramatically before a fiery explosion?" Suggested Nurse Joy, who was sitting behind Ritchie.

"Um, I think we need a more detailed plan of attack, but the ending sounded fun." Ritchie assured from his sitting position on Zippo, his Charizard. Brock looked back to the others trailing behind him and his Crobat.

"Ritchie's right. We need to carefully plan our attack, but I think that we should wait until we get to Ash's house." He suggested and everyone nodded his or her head in agreement as they approached Ash's house.

* * *

Meanwhile…

Ash, Misty, Todd and Duplica were wandering down the corridor of the floor directly beneath the one where they had been held prisoner. They rounded a corner to what they hoped to be the direction of Ms. Ketchum's cell, when they saw another soldier who was sporting a red, blue and black colored uniform. They were about to backtrack and hide when they noticed that behind the soldier were Professor Oak and Delia.

"Give me back my Mom!" Ash yelled, rushing head-on toward the soldier and threw a right punch. The soldier dodged his punch and pushed Ash forward, where his momentum carried him to the floor. Ash picked himself off the ground and prepared to charge again when Professor Oak and Delia blocked his path.

"Hold it, Ash!" Samuel ordered gripping Ash's shoulders.

"Calm down, honey." Delia pleaded. Ash gritted his teeth but complied with their wishes. Seeing that Ash wasn't going to trust the mysterious soldier, Samuel turned to the unknown soldier.

"You better take off your helmet." He instructed. The soldier nodded before reaching his hands to undo the latches on his helmet. He proceeded to take off his helmet to reveal himself as none other than…

* * *

"And that's what happened Mr. Mime," Brock finished explaining to the clown Pokémon.

"Do you think that you can teleport us onto their airship?" asked Ritchie.

"Mime! Mime Mr. Mime!" (Sure! Here we go!) Mr. Mime closed his eyes and began glowing with a purple hue.

"Wait!" Casey pleaded, "If this takes to long I won't have time to come back for my ticket!" She looked around frantically, but was unable to locate it before they all vanished.

* * *

The soldier reached behind his head to undo the latches and pulled off the helmet to reveal his identity as none other than…

"Huh? Gary?" Ash yelled in disbelief. "How'd you end up dressed up like one of those goons?"

"And more importantly, where were you?" Misty angrily demanded. "When we saw all those guys taking Delia and Professor Oak away, you were no where to be found and you took off before either of us!" Gary sweat-dropped.

"Well, I admit that the rushing crowd obstructed my vision a bit, but I was able to rely on my warrior instincts to point me in the right direction." Everybody sweat-dropped.

"So basically, you got lost and happened to find the airship?" Misty clarified.

"As I was saying," Gary continued, "I was able to rely on my warrior instincts, which led me to the airship where I sneaked on board after confiscating this uniform from some loser who was standing guard. That poor guy should have known about the consequences of taking on the famous Gary Oak."

"So how'd you beat the guy whose uniform you stole?" Todd asked.

"Pikapi!" (Ash!) Yelled the little mouse Pokémon as it came out of its hiding place and jumped into Ash's house arms.

"Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed as he caught his starting Pokémon and embraced him in a large hug. "How'd you get here?"

"Pika pikachu!" (I came with Gary!)

Duplica laughed. "I guess that explains how Gary won and where Pikachu disappeared to." Ash gave her a blank stare.

"When did you see Pikachu? He was exploring the carnival while he was baby-sitting Brock." Duplica looked at Todd and they both laughed.

"We ran into Pikachu on our way to the where Professor Oak and your Mom were and he... um, well... he told us that Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny needed help and that Brock was there." Todd explained with a nervous laugh. Everyone sweat-dropped.

"Doesn't your friend have any self-control?" Gary inquired. Pikachu shook his head vigorously.

"Pikachu pi; pika pikachu pichu!" (That's not what I said; I said that Nurse Joy was in trouble and that Brock and Officer Jenny were trying to help!)

"What? Oh no!" Ash blurted.

"What's wrong dear?" Delia asked in concern.

"Pikachu said that Brock was there trying to help Officer Jenny get Nurse Joy out of trouble." Ash explained.

"Oh dear!" exclaimed Professor Oak. "We'll have to lend a hand when we get out of here."

"But how are we going to get out of here?" Misty asked. Everyone sighed as they realized that they had no means to get back to Pallet Town.

"Maybe if we hi-jack this airship, we can turn it around," suggested Gary, but Misty shook her head.

"No, that won't work." Everyone looked to Misty for an explanation.

"It won't work because they're armed and we're not. But even if they weren't, they still have him on this ship somewhere." Ash, Delia and Samuel looked down at the floor as Misty's all-too-true words sank in, but Gary, Todd and Duplica were thoroughly confused.

"Who are you guys talking about?" Todd asked. Ash sighed.

"One of those soldiers, the one completely in black, was incredibly strong. I didn't even come close to landing a blow on him even though I could use the very acceptable excuse of only getting one chance to strike before he sent me flying."

"Yeah! And that stupid jerk smashed my mallet into a million pieces with one punch after he had stopped my attack with one hand," Misty complained. "If I ever run in to him, oh boy, is he going to be sorry."

"Every guy who meets you is sorry he did," Ash muttered.

"What was that?" Misty demanded with a fiery aura surrounding her. Ash gulped.

"Um, I said that a guy who never meets you would be sorry he didn't," Ash responded nervously. "I know I would be sorry, Mist."

"That's what I thought you said," Misty declared with a satisfied tone. Ash sighed in relief when it seemed that his nickname for her pulled his butt out of the proverbial fire once again. Gary coughed to bring everyone's attention back on the important task of finding a way back home.

"We have to figure out something really quick or they're gonna—"

"Hey the prisoners have escaped! All units to prison floor number two!" A guard yelled into his walkie-talkie.

"Never mind," sighed Gary. "Run!" Our heroes ran along a vacant corridor only to see more troops appearing in front of them. It wasn't long before they were loosely surrounded on all sides, when out of thin air appeared Mr. Mime, Brock, Ritchie and the rest of the gang.

"Hey Ash, everybody! We're here to help and we've brought a little backup." Brock smiled as the rescue team threw their friends their Pokéballs. Pokémon were released everywhere and made quick work of the enemy soldiers until there was only one left in front of them. Being the soldier in black was all that was necessary.

"Archer," Gary spat.

"The little brat that stowed away on my airship," Archer returned. Everyone called out attacks in an effort to stop the soldier in black now known as Archer, but he easily avoided vines, flamethrowers, waterguns and anything else thrown at him; knocking the Pokémon aside and forcing their trainers to recall their fallen partners.

"Pikaaaaaaaa chuu!" (Eat this!) Yelled Pikachu as he released a blinding thunder attack, but Archer took the attack in spades, walking right through it without so much as flinching. He back knuckled Pikachu into the wall with such force that he slid to floor unconscious.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled as he rushed over to retrieve his fallen partner. Archer lashed out at Ash, but missed by a narrow margin when Ash dove underneath the blow and rolled over to Pikachu. Archer paid Ash no further attention, choosing to rush the crowd of trainers to recapture Samuel. Ritchie and Tracey both managed to score a hit on Archer with the electro-staffs they had acquired in their battles, but the attacks seemed to do less damage than Pikachu's attack. Archer brutally pushed them aside before Casey swung her bat with all her might at the open air. She looked up to see Archer jumping over her before pushing her forward hard enough to make her fall flat on her face. Archer ran right past Melody and Misty without giving them a first glance, but paused when Brock charged, ducking and using a sweeping kick to knock Brock's feet out from under him. Gary and Todd attempted a high-low combo, but Archer jumped over Todd and hammered Gary out of the air. Duplica and Nurse Joy tried to take advantage of his stalled form by grabbing on to his arms, but Archer quickly spun around knocked them into adjacent walls, leaving just Delia and Mr. Mime to protect Professor Oak.

"Mimey, lightscreen!" Delia shouted.

"Mime!" (Right!). A transparent wall appeared forcing Archer to stop abruptly to avoid crashing into it.

"Mr. Mime, use psychic!" Mr. Mime's eyes glowed purple as he channeled the telekinetic energies on his opponent, successfully enveloping Archer in a purple glow as Mr. Mime threw Archer through the far wall.

"Everybody, quickly! Come over here!" Delia instructed whilst Mr. Mime closed his eyes and focused the last of his energies. Everybody picked himself or herself up and gathered near Delia, Professor Oak, and Mr. Mime just as Archer appeared through the hole in the wall. Archer quickly climbed through the hole trying to recapture his target, but the familiar glow of Mr. Mime enshrouded our heroes and they disappeared in a flash of light. Archer pressed two fingers to his helmet to activate its internal radio.

"The prisoners have escaped and they've taken Samuel Oak with them."

"Very well," responds a computer-altered voice. "Proceed with the plan to annihilate Pallet Town. If Professor Oak is unwilling to cooperate, we can't afford to have him leak any information to the authorities."

"Understood, Master," Archer replied. "Preparations are underway."

* * *

Meanwhile…

"AUUUUUGH!" everyone screamed as they landed on Professor Oak's hardwood floor.

"Ow! Geez Mr. Mime. Couldn't you have teleported us to ground level?" Ash complained with everyone groaning in agreement. Gary picked his bag out from under him.

"Mime mime." (My bad). Mr. Mime apologized while rubbing the back of his head. Professor Oak got off the floor and ran to the videophone, immediately dialing Officer Jenny's number.

"Jenny! You have to evacuate everybody! Team Devastation is going to attack Pallet Town!" Samuel yelled into the receiver.

"What about all of you?" Jenny wondered.

"There's a shelter underneath the Tauros corral. It should be able to withstand anything they throw at us. You just make sure everyone gets out safely!" Officer Jenny saluted and rushed to carry out her orders.

"Professor Oak? What's going on?" Ash asked nervously. Samuel turned to the boy and placed his hands on Ash's shoulders.

"I promise that I'll explain everything in due time, but for now I need you to just trust me." Samuel looked around and saw the faces of all the people who placed their trust in him and smiled at the unspoken faith. "Alright, everyone follow me," he instructed as he led everyone out the back door. They approached the empty corral that was previously occupied by all of Ash's Tauros, and they all descended the ladder into the underground shelter and waited for the attack…


	7. Ch 6: Explosions and Explanations

**Chapter 6: Explosion and Explanations**

A flock of Pidgey flies over what seems to be a deserted arena which had been bustling villa full of fun and games only a few minutes ago. A lone Pidgey broke away from the flock to perch on the cotton candy machine and rest its wings. It isn't long before the rest of his flock join him and they all enjoy the free snack. The area gradually grew silent as their instincts warned them of approaching danger and they flew off in a hurry to avoid the unseen threat. A large beep resounded and grew until it could be heard all around. With a final long tone, an enormous explosion engulfed Pallet Town all the way to the residential area until a smoldering pile of ashes was all that remained.

* * *

Officer Jenny stood on the outskirts of the now ruined Pallet Town and sighed as she looked behind her at all of the people that were now homeless.

'_At least they're alive,_' She thought with a small smile. She hadn't taken a head count to confirm that everyone had evacuated, nor had she received any word from Professor Oak on the condition of him and the people with him. She gripped the Pokégear she had borrowed from a nearby gentleman and began dialing police headquarters back in Viridian City. There were going to be a lot of people moving in tonight...

* * *

Darkness and silence filled the inside of Professor Oak's underground shelter. The tremors from the explosion had shaken the room and knocked out the main power line, leaving everyone shaken up and blind.

"Ash, you dope! Get off of me!" yelled a very irritated and embarrassed Misty.

"Pika! Pika chu pikachupi!" (Hey! It's me Misty!)

"Oh! Sorry Pikachu!"

"Hey! What about me?" Ash grumbled. "Aren't you even going to say sorry to me?"

"Keep whining and I'll give you plenty of things to be sorry about," she growled. As tough as she was trying to act, the truth was that Misty was still afraid of the dark, though she'd sworn to die before she let anyone know.

"Ha ha, you're so funny. I'd be able to laugh even harder if my lungs weren't being crushed!" Ash yelled as he shoved the body on top of him.

"Hey! Quit shoving!" shouted Melody. "I wasn't on top of you on purpose." Misty felt her face turn a deep crimson, but whether it was jealousy or anger would have been anyone's guess if they could actually see anything.

"Go, Zippo!" yelled Ritchie as he threw his pokéball. A flash of red light temporarily illuminated the room and replaced a by the soft glow around the tail of Ritchie's Charizard.

"Smart thinking, Ritchie," Tracey remarked as he extended a hand to help Melody up.

"Yeah," Gary agreed. "Now all we need is a better source of light. Go, Umbreon!" yelled as he released his Pokémon. Gary's Umbreon appeared in a flash of red light and contributed to the visibility problem when his yellow rings started glowing.

"I'm afraid that's not much better, but I have a more permanent solution if everyone would release your electric Pokémon." Professor Oak requested. Pokémon were released until they had Pikachu, Richie's Pikachu, Sparky, and Casey's Elekid.

"Now if you'd all direct a thunderbolt in that direction," Professor Oak pointed at the wall behind them. "Those panels will use the electricity to get the generator started."

"Pikachu! Sparky! Elekid! Thunderbolt!" shouted their respective trainers, pointing to where Professor Oak had. The lightning illuminated the room as it struck the panels. Cheers from everybody overshadowed the sound of machinery booting up, until Professor Oak switched on the monitor of the main console to display the situation above ground. Everyone gasped at the horrendous sight before their eyes. All eyes turned to Ash, Delia and Gary. Delia's hand went to her mouth while trying to choke back tears stemming from memories made in the now decimated Pallet Town. Gary turned his head away and closed his eyes to block the images from his mind that threatened to throw him into a pit of sorrow and despair. Ash lowered his head and clenched his fists hard enough that he would have snapped anything he could hold in half.

"A-Ash?" Misty quivering voice asked, reaching out for his shoulder. "A-Are you o-okay?" Ash pulled away the moment he felt her normally calming touch. Professor Oak put his fist to his mouth to clear his throat before speaking.

"Everyone, I understand that we have just witnessed an appalling misfortune, but I need you all to focus on what I am about to tell you. For the past 15 years, I have been researching the potential of unifying a Pokémon's abilities with the human spirit. I know that this doesn't stray from my research that you're all familiar with, but I assure you there was a deeper level to my research that I have not yet revealed to you."

"What are you talking about, Grandpa?" Gary asked, curious to know what his Grandpa could have kept from him for so long.

"I've theorized about the possibility of using a Pokémon's abilities to enhance the capabilities of humans, but only with Pokémon that are in constant contact with their trainers," Samuel explained.

"Why couldn't you have told us this sooner?" Ash inquired. "I could have been blasting Team Rocket with my bare hands before they recited their stupid motto."

"More like take on a Snorlax at an all you can eat buffet," Misty muttered.

"It was only a theory at the time, Ash. When I introduced the idea to the symposium 10 years ago, it was deemed impossible by all but one man."

"Who Professor?"

"Professor Namba."

"You mean the guy who was trying to capture Lugia at the Whirl Islands?" Brock asked.

"Yes, Tracey. Namba was the head of research for science and technology to use against Team Rocket. We had no idea that he was in cahoots with Team Rocket all along. Although his intentions remained a secret, we still found out that he couldn't be trusted when we investigated his research lab. Team Rocket was a rising threat that needed to be taken care of, but the methods he was using to test my theories were unforgivable," Professor Oak explained.

"What was he trying to do, Professor?" Ritchie wondered.

"He began extracting DNA strands from the Pokémon and splicing them into humans to give them superhuman abilities."

"Was it a success?" Gary asked.

"Yes and no, Gary. Eventually the process proved possible, but there were side-effects."

"What kind of side effects?" Todd wondered.

"The Pokémon used in the experiments lost all of their special attacks and could barely function in their daily lives." Professor Oak replied sadly.

"That's despicable!" Nurse Joy yelled, clearly outraged.

"Who does he think he is?" agreed Melody.

"I agree with all of you, and I assure you that the research community supports your beliefs as well. As soon as we discovered the experiments taking place, we arrested Namba and every staff member involved."

"What about the Pokémon?" Ash asked.

"Since the Pokémon were no longer able to use their attacks, we couldn't release them into the wild. Our only course of action was to relocate them to Mr. Fugi in Lavender Town until they could be adopted. Fortunately there were many people that appreciated Pokémon that couldn't attack as they made ideal pets. It may not have been the favorable decision, but it was the best we could do," Samuel reasoned.

"I don't understand. If the Pokémon's attacks could be taken away, couldn't they just be put back again?" Delia asked. Samuel shook his head before pressing a button on the console. The picture changed from the surveillance outside to a 3-D diagram of a Pikachu.

"I'm afraid it's more complicated than that. If you'll look at the monitor, you'll see a view of the everyday Pikachu." Professor Oak pressed another button and the image became transparent before zooming in on a genetic level.

"And as you can see here, the genetic structure of the same Pikachu. If you look at this DNA strand shown here, you'll see what makes it possible for a Pikachu to use electric attacks and control them safely and efficiently." He pressed another button which summoned a similar shape next to the Pikachu diagram. "It's easier to see when compared with this Pichu who does not possess the natural ability to control its electricity."

"Pika pika?" (Even me?) Pikachu asked.

"Your a slight exception, Pikachu," Professor Oak clarified before continuing. "Namba succeeded in removing the DNA strand, but failed to isolate the fail-safe DNA sequence. As a result, the humans used in the project burned through their abilities at an accelerated rate. I'm sure many may have even lost their lives."

"But if all he needed was the fail-safe, why couldn't he just remove that as well?" Asked Gary.

"If he had tried, the power would have been sealed up off immediately. I can only theorize it to be nature's way of ensuring that the powers don't fall into the hands of those who would misuse them," Professor Oak explained.

"But if Namba was imprisoned, who is that wants your research?" Todd asked. Samuel closed his eyes and sighed.

"I'm afraid he escaped 5 years ago. I'd only recently heard from him when he kidnapped me for my knowledge of Pokérus. That is until today. It seems that he had a hand in the disbanding of Team Rocket. He turned in everybody of importance but the Rocket Boss, whom even he feared. He then reorganized all the Team Rocket grunts into a new team he calls Team Devastation. You've already met them. If only I had deciphered the warning those three dunces, who were after your Pikachu recited, Ash."

"Are you trying to say that Jessie, James and Meowth were trying to help?" Ash asked doubtfully.

"I thought you were familiar with their motto, Ash."

"More than I care to admit, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Think about it Ash, the third line?" Brock reminded.

"Oh, you mean 'To protect the world from Devastation'," Ash realized.

"You mean they actually knew what they were saying? I guess that would explain why they got so mad the time we mangled their motto when they kidnapped my Ditto," Duplica said with a sheepish grin.

"Are you sure they weren't just stringing words together? When Tracey and I fought with Cassidy and Boot, or Botch, or whatever his name is, their motto was way different," Ritchie pointed out. Tracey nodded.

"You're right Richie. Their motto started with 'To **infect **the world with Devastation'. Something doesn't add up here."

"I understand your suspicions, but the fact that Team Rocket was only interested in Pokémon that they considered strong is solid proof. They must have wanted to use Namba's research to give themselves more power," Professor Oak explained.

"And just imagine if they got hold of legendary Pokémon for their experiments," Misty pointed out. Everyone fell silent as they pictured the pure chaos that would ensue if Team Rocket got hold of that much power.

"But Team Rocket was nothing but a pack of liars who wanted power for themselves!" Casey argued.

"Yeah!" Todd agreed. "If it wasn't for the fact that they're complete idiots, they might have had good plans. But they actually thought I was going to capture Pikachu!"

"That was pretty stupid of them," Ash chuckled.

"You thought his camera was a gun," Misty countered, earning a dirty look from Ash.

"I know they had err—peculiar methods, but Jessie and James had our best interest in mind. Even if they wanted to get rich quick in the process," Samuel reasoned.

Delia nodded in agreement. "It's not like they haven't openly saved us before." Ash looked at his mother, completely bewildered.

"When have they ever helped us?" He asked.

Melody sighed. "Gee, Ash. Tell me again how you got the last treasure from Articuno's island?"

Ash flinched. "Um… well, I made my way across the ice with the help of my Pokémon." He mumbled before turning away. Melody put her hand on her hip as she playfully stuck a finger in his face.

"Really? Cause I seem to remember a turbo raft picking you up after you crashed, and a certain trio who jumped off of Lugia to make sure you reached your destination easier." Melody smiled in contempt, seeing Ash lower his head in defeat.

"I still couldn't trust anyone part of an organization that abandons their Pokémon because they consider them weak. How could anyone from Team Rocket be considered good?" Nurse Joy asked.

"There is no good or evil, save in the way you see the world. There is no dark or light, save in your own vision. All changes in the blink of an eye, yet all remains the same," Misty quoted. "Conor, from the book Daughter of the Forest said that."

"But what does it mean?" Ash wondered.

"I think it means that the way you look at something defines whether it's bad or not. We choose to see the evil in what Team Rocket does, so it's harder for us to accept Team Rocket as anything but bad guys." Brock deduced.

"Well whatever we agree on, we still need to decide on what to do next," Gary pointed out.

"Pallet Town probably isn't the only place they're going to hit. We should warn everyone." Duplica suggested.

"It doesn't matter what we do next," Ash argued. "Just as long as we stop them."

"Pi Pikachu!" (Darn straight!)

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I type slowly and I make frequent changes to the way I write the chapter. I hope to get the next one up soon too. Read and Review please.


	8. Ch 7: Get the word out

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters. If I did, Misty would have already been back. **

**Ch 7: Get the word out**

**_Ring-ring-ring, Ring-ring-ring, Phone call! Phone call!_**

**_Ring-ring-ring, Ring-ring-ring, Phone call! Phone call!_**

The telephone at the ranger's station located on the outskirts of Pallet Town loudly rang in the silent office. Officer Jenny poked her head up from the piles of paperwork at her desk and turned towards the noise. She turned the volume of the TV down and ran to pick up the phone, desperately hoping for some good news.

"**Hello?" She asked.**

"**Jenny? Is that you?" the voice answers.**

"Professor Oak? Is that you? How come you're not turning on the telephone monitor?"

"Oops! Sorry about that," Professor Oak apologized. A second passed before Officer Jenny could see his face on the screen. "What is the situation with the citizens of Pallet town?" Officer Jenny smiled.

"Everyone on this end is accounted for and they are currently located at the shelter in Viridian City. Is everyone okay on your end?" She asked.

"I have a bunch of hormonally driven teenagers over here. We're all okay, but everyone's a little tense," Samuel responded. "Has there been any word about attacks happening anywhere else?" Officer Jenny frowned as she looked down.

"I'm afraid that we've lost contact with all of Hoenn. All of the trainers there have been presumed captured and have had their Pokémon confiscated," Officer Jenny hesitated before continuing. "They have Professor Birch, but they've eliminated the Hoenn Elite Four." Samuel's eyes widened upon hearing this new development.

"Professor? What's wrong?" Ash asked in the background, but Professor Oak held up his hand to silence the question.

"What about the Gym Leaders?" he asked.

"I don't know." Officer Jenny admitted. "I would assume they've been captured - or worse."

"What about the islands? And Johto?" Samuel asked hopefully.

"I haven't gotten any word on the situation in Johto or the Orange islands, but as far as I know, the rest of Kanto…" Officer Jenny stopped when she heard the emergency broadcast signal. "Samuel, I think you'd better turn on the T.V." Samuel pressed a button on his computer to change the display on the monitor to a specialized broadcast from the Pokémon League.

"_It has come to the attention of the Kanto Elite Four, that there is a new terrorist organization intent on disrupting the foundation of the League. Numerous cities have already been attacked including: Pewter City, Celadon City, and Cinnabar Island. The following Gym Leaders have been reported missing: Mr. & Ms. Slate, Lt. Surge, Erika, and Blaine. These missing Gym Leaders have been presumed captured by the enemy. It is advised that everyone remain on high alert. Anybody caught outside after nine p.m. without authorization will be detained immediately for questioning. That is all."_

Everyone turned to Brock. The young breeder's fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white, and if it were possible, his eyes were squinting harder than ever. Nurse Joy reached over and put her hands on his shoulders.

"It's gonna be okay," She reassured.

"But how did they get their hands on Lt. Surge? It doesn't make any sense." Ritchie voiced.

"Why's that?" Ash wondered.

"Oh, I get it. Vermillion City wasn't on the list of cities that were attacked," Tracey realized.

"That is a bit strange." Delia agreed.

"We'll mull over theories later. Right now we need to plan out our next course of action." Samuel reminded. "Does anyone have any suggestions?" Brock's hand shot up immediately.

"I want to go and see how my brothers and sisters are doing back home." Misty walked forward and raised her hand as well.

"I want to go and rescue my sisters before they land themselves in trouble." Professor Oak nodded.

"Are there any other ideas?" Todd raised his hand.

"I think that we should look further into the details of Surge's disappearance. I vote we go to Vermillion City as soon as possible."

"I think we should get word to May and Max about what's going on before we do anything else," Ash suggested, but Professor Oak shook his head.

"I'm sorry Ash, but it's too late for that."

"What do you mean by that?" Ash asked with a troubled expression on his face.

"I'd just gotten word that all of Hoenn has had all i contacts cut off, and that all of the Gym leaders and the Hoenn Elite Four have been… terminated." Delia gasped.

"You mean May and Max's parents are…?" Samuel sighed.

"It would seem so, yes."

"What about May and Max?" asked Misty.

"All trainers are believed to have been captured, and their Pokémon confiscated." The room fell silent as this revelation sunk into the minds and hearts of everyone.

"I…I think that we should get going, so that we don't share the same fate." Ritchie suggested.

"Agreed. We should move out as soon as possible." Professor Oak pressed another button on the console to switch the screen from the news to a map of Kanto. "Now we just need to settle on where we go to first."

"How about if we just split up?" Duplica suggested. Professor Oak shook his head.

"That would be too dangerous if you were to run into members of Team Devastation."

"They can't all be like Archer if Ritchie and Tracey beat them," Melody pointed out.

"Yeah, they're not exactly the invincible-hero types," agreed Casey.

"Hey!" Ritchie objected.

"That's not cool," Tracey agreed.

"Maybe their colors stand for their rank, or level of power," Todd suggested.

"How do you figure that?" Gary wondered.

"Well, me and Duplica were facing this huge guy wearing red and black. That's about all we had time to notice before he knocked us flat. The person guarding our cell though, she was wearing blue, green, and red. She was easily knocked out when I slammed her head against the bars." Gary nodded.

"I guess that makes sense. The soldier I was facing was wearing black, green and red. He went down easily enough, but he didn't stay down. I probably wouldn't have made it on board in time if Ash's Pikachu hadn't showed up when he did."

"Pikachu, pi pikachu!" (Yeah, I really saved his butt!)

"It seems like the more black they're wearing, the stronger they are." Nurse Joy pointed out.

"So, if we don't run into soldiers wearing nothing but black, we can take them out with our Pokémon," Ash declared. Misty sighed.

"But, Ash... Nurse Joy, Todd and Melody don't have any Pokémon at all. Not to mention the one's with Professor Oak… Hey, Professor? What did you do with all of the Pokémon that the trainers sent to you?"

"Don't worry, I sent them all to New Bark Town before the explosion. Unfortunately, with the lab destroyed, there is no means to transfer them back to Kanto." Brock scratched his head in confusion.

"I don't get it Professor. Can't you just transfer them to the nearest Pokémon Center?" Nurse Joy shook her head.

"The transporters in a Pokémon research lab have a special master code that isn't included in the Pokémon Center transport systems. For regional transport to be possible, a Pokéball must first be transported to the corresponding research lab's transport system. It was the desired method to avoid becoming a traffic jam of mixed signals that could have incomprehensible side effects on the Pokémon. The Master code also changes after each transfer to prevent anyone from hacking into it and using it for their own nefarious purposes." Nurse Joy explained.

"That's really smart," Casey remarked.

"Well, we may be out of reserves, but we have some of our most trusted Pokémon with us. We'll be just fine," Ash decided.

"As long as we stay alert and don't take any unnecessary risks," Ritchie agreed. Professor Oak nodded.

"Alright then, now we just need to know who's going where. I think it would be best if you kids explored Pewter and Cerulean City first. We can meet up later before investigating Vermillion City."

"I'm going to check on my siblings," Brock stated.

"I'll go with him. My nursing skills may be of use," Nurse Joy volunteered, receiving a grateful smile from Brock.

"I'm going back home to rescue my air-head sisters before they land themselves in trouble. Again." Misty said determinedly with hint of irritation in her voice. Ash raised his hand.

"I'll go with Misty. She's pretty harmless without her mallet." Casey carefully stepped over Ash's felled body.

"I want to go back to Cerulean too. The next Electabuzz game is being held there, so maybe I'll get to see Giorgio there. Maybe even the starting pitcher, Cory." Said Casey dreamily.

"I'm going too!" Ritchie blurted, causing Casey and everyone else to stare at his red face. "I mean, um, if Ash keeps earning hits from Misty, he won't be able to give commands to Pikachu. I think we should have as many capable electric pokémon in Cerulean City." He stammered before looking away. Before anyone had a chance to inspect Ritchie's face, Tracey spoke up.

"I'll go with Brock and Nurse Joy to Pewter City. My Marrill and I should come in handy if we run into trouble, and there are some sketches I wanted to do on some of the exhibits at the museum. If it's still there I mean."

"Hey, that's a great idea, Tracey," Todd concurred. " I think I'll go so I can take some photos."

"I think my preferred location would be in Cerulean," Duplica stated. "If I'm lucky, I'll get to see one of the water ballets over there at Misty's Gym." Melody grinned.

"Ooh, you're right. I've always wanted to see one of those." Gary walked over to where Professor Oak stood.

"I'll stick with my Grandpa." He declared.

"Where are you going, Professor?" Tracey asked.

"I'm going to the Pokémon academy where I used to lecture. It's just outside of Vermillion," he replied.

"I remember that place," Ash, Misty and Brock said in unison.

"Why are we going there, Samuel?" Delia inquired.

"Huh? You're going with them Mom?" asked Ash.

"Of course I am, sweetie. Did you think that I was going to sit here and do nothing?" Delia responded. "Besides, I wouldn't want to interfere with the perfect opportunity to spend some time alone with Misty," she added with a mischievous grin.

"Why would I want to be alone with him/her?" They shouted in unison before turning their backs to each other, blushing furiously.

"Why are we going to that school, Grandpa?" Gary asked.

"I have an old colleague over there that I used to teach, and he alone has the means to access my research files."

"Couldn't you have just stored the information on this computer Professor?" Duplica wondered.

"Computers are too easily hacked for it to be saved on any hard drive," he explained.

"When are we leaving, Professor?" Ritchie asked.

"We'll head out 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. In the mean time, you'll find sleeping quarters for the boys in the east wing, and the girl's sleeping quarters in the west wing." Samuel responded.

"But who can sleep now, after all that's happened?" whined Ash.

"That's enough out of you, young man. It's 1:00 a.m., and I don't want anyone leaving cranky from lack of sleep," Delia proclaimed. "I want all of you to go to your rooms and lights out in twenty minutes. Now march!"

"Yes ma'am!" The teens, Nurse Joy, and even Professor Oak responded as they shuffled out of the conference room...

* * *

A/N: Finally. Chapter seven is done. Sorry it took so long. Now I have to type the next chapter


	9. Ch 8: Pewter City Pebble Rescue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters.**

A/N: "Means Character Speech"

'_Means Character Thoughts_'

(Means Pokemon translations)

- Means POV Change

**Ch 8: Pewter City Pebble Rescue**

Our heroes have split up to remain less noticeable. Brock, Nurse Joy, Tracey and Todd have set out for Pewter City at 10:00 a.m. sharp, traveling at a rapid pace through the Viridian Forest.

"Grooooar!"(Get out of theway!) Brock's Steelix cried as they emerge from the thickets of trees.

"We're making excellent time. I can already see the outskirts of Pewter City," Tracey remarked from behind his binoculars. Brock shifted uncomfortably from atop Steelix's head. Nurse Joy looked up and noticed the tense look on his face.

'_Poor guy. His parents have been kidnapped and he has no idea about the condition of the rest of his family_,' She thought. "Everything will be okay, Brock!" She called out reassuringly.

"Hey, Joy!" Tracey called out.

"What is it, Tracey?" She politely inquired.

"I was wondering, why were you in Pallet Town to begin with?" At Tracey's question, a sheepish grin covered Nurse Joy's face.

"I was there to get my assigned location, after I passed my final certification exams that is."

"Well, how did you do?" Todd asked, not wanting to to be left out of the loop.

"I aced the human anatomy section of my test, but when it came time to take the Pokemon section of the test, I fell asleep halfway through," she replied glumly.

"You still did okay though, right?" Asked Brock. Nurse Joy sighed.

"Actually, the part I fell asleep for was worth fifty percent," Joy ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. "If only I hadn't stayed up half the night studying my notes for the hundredth time, I wouldn't have dozed off and I'd be a licensed nurse right now."

"But how did you end up at the festival underneath all that rubble?"

"The carnival looked fun, so I tried going on as many rides as I could to forget about my blunder. I eventually found myself in the line to ride the bumper cars when that explosion toppled the ferris wheel. I was about to run away like any sane person would, until I saw that same girl from before on her knees crying in the path of the twisted metal that was falling. Before I knew what I was doing, I scooped her up in my arms and tried running for cover, but as you can tell, I didn't get very far," Joy recounted. Tracey smiled.

"The important thing is that you and that girl are okay, Joy," Tracey stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Todd nodded his head in agreement.

"Tracey's right. You did your best and I'm sure the girl knew that she was safe with you," concurred Todd. Joy sighed.

"The only reason she relaxed was because she mistook me for a 'Nurse' Joy. I'm lucky that she didn't card me," said Joy in a dejected tone. Brock slid down Steelix's back and approached Joy.

"I don't want to hear you talk like that, Joy. A license isn't what makes you a nurse. Knowledge doesn't matter either, even though you have that covered as well. What matters is what's in your heart, and your heart cares for others. That alone is what truly makes a nurse," Brock assured with a stern countenance. Joy felt herself flush as a bright red blush spread across her face. She looked up at his confident smile, but remained unconvinced.

"But how can you be so sure that's all there is to it?" She asked. Brock pointed his thumb at himself.

"You're looking at a prime example," he grinned. Joy stared at him with a perplexed expression.

"What do you mean by that?" To Joy, nothing about Brock seemed like he could fail at something he tried his best at. Brock chuckled.

"I didn't pass the certifications before I took over my family's gym. Shoot, I didn't even have time to apply before my mother and father each took off on their own journeys. I wasn't the most talented, but I still managed to withhold a few badges from trainers that weren't skilled enough to beat me. Because of my circumstances, the league allowed me to continue my duties as Gym Leader until I could take the time to apply and pass legitimately," he explained. Joy looked up at him in amazement.

"So you see, Joy, you actually have one up on me. Not only is your heart in the right place, you're completely capable," he assured. Joy felt the blush returning to her face and looked down to escape Brock's gaze.

"Thank you, Brock." She managed to squeak out.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Brock. If you beat Ash back then, you couldn't have been all that bad," Tracey remarked. Brock's hand flew behind his head as an embarrassed smile crept onto his face.

"Actually, the first time Ash challenged me, all he had were flying types and Pikachu. And I still almost lost when Pikachu's attacks set off the sprinkler system," he admitted. Everyone stared at Brock with pity in their eyes.

"Dang, Brock. Maybe it** was **a good thing that you retired so early," Todd confirmed, causing Brock to go into his fetal position and trace circles on Steelix's head with his finger.

"Hey, there's Pewter City!" Tracey exclaimed.

"Where is your house, Brock?" Joy wondered.

"It's about a fifteen minute walk from here," he replied. Everyone dismounted from Steelix before the classic red beam of the pokéball recalled Steelix for some well deserved rest.

"Did you want to visit your Aunt while you're here, Joy?" Brock asked. Joy shook her head.

"Not really. She'd be so disappointed if I told her that I didn't pass. My Aunt was really... Hey! How did you know that the Nurse Joy here is my Aunt?" Joy eyed Brock suspiciously causing the breeder to laugh nervously, but a serious expression covered Tracey's face.

"It's a mystical power that only Brock possess. He can distinguish even the most subtle difference between each Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny. Even I can't do that, and I'm an experienced Pokemon watcher," Tracey answered.

"Hey, if you think that's something to be ashamed of, I've taken pictures of every Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny that I've come across, and I still can't see the differences," Todd admitted.

"Wow, Brock. That's amazing! How-" Joy stopped once she saw that Brock was already on his way home.

"Brock, wait up!" They yelled as they ran after him. Brock stopped at the top of the hill and stared at the decimation in front of him. The Pewter City Gym had been reduced to rubble, and his house, or what was left of it, was in total shambles. He paused long enough for everyone to catch up with him before he crossed the yellow tape.

"Forest! Cindy! Can anyone here me?" He yelled to the open air.

"They've probably been re-located to the Pokemon center already," Joy assured. Brock shook his head.

"No, we've been practicing danger drills for as long as I can remember. At the first sign of danger, the kids are supposed to head straight for the safe house behind the Gym." He ran to the other side with his friends close behind and pushed away a realistic bush to reveal a pair of steel-reinforced doors leading beneath the surface.

"My parents had this specifically made so that the kids would be protected from any hazards. Unfortunately for us, once it's closed, there's no way to open it from the outside once it's locked. The thing is, an alarm should have already sounded once the coast was clear, letting them know that it was safe to come out."

"Unless the alarm cable was cut." Tracey replied curtly, referring to the two halves of cable in each of his hands. "You're brothers and sisters, heck, even your Mom and Dad might be in there and just be unaware that the danger has passed. I knew my Pokemon would come in handy. Marill, Venonat, come on out!" Tracey threw two pokéballs into the air, a red flash of light shining and revealing his tracking partners.

"Marill mar!" (Hey everybody!)

"Venonat?" (What's up?)

"Marill, see if you can hear anything inside. Venonat, see if you can detect any people in there." Marill's ears twitched and Venonat's eyes flashed as they carried out their orders.

"Marrill marrill!" (Someone's in there!)

"Veno nat!" (There's people inside!)

"Alright! Great job you guys! Now all we have to get inside somehow!" Tracey exclaimed. Brock shook his head.

"I'm telling you guys, there's no way to open the door. It can even withstand an explosion from Fortress without taking more than a few dents."

"But if we could somehow weaken the door's structure, or at least focus all of our attack strength on a single point..." Todd trailed off.

"Why not do both?" Tracey suggested. "What if Scyther makes a gash in the door, and we hit it with a strong attack?" Brock paused to consider the strategy.

"And I have just the attack." Brock stated with renewed hope as he held up a pokéball.

"Go, Scyther!" Tracey yelled as threw the bug pokémon's containment module.

"Scyther scy!" (Let's get started!)

"Go!" Brock shouted as he released his Pokémon.

"Geodude!" (I'm ready to rock!)

"Scyther, use Fury Cutter on the door!" Tracey ordered. Scyther wasted no time and rapidily slashed at the door as fast as he could. A few minutes passed and the steel door now had deep cuts along the perimeter and an even larger 'X' shaped reaching from corner to corner.

"Good work, Scyther!" Tracey commended his exhausted Pokemon before returning it to his pokéball.

"My turn. Geodude, use Focus Punch on the door!" Brock commanded. Geodude's fist startd glowing before he pulled it back and smashed down on the door with all of his might. The entire door, frame and all was forced down, falling several meters before it hit with a large crash at the bottom. Everybody cheered at the success and followed Brock down the hole and into the darkness. Brock descended as quickly as he could and was the first to reach the bottom of the ladder.

"Hey, Brock?" Joy called down. Brock looked, immediately turning scarlet and tried with all his might to make his shoes seem very interesting.

"What is it, Joy?"

"Well, your parents really put a lot of work into building this, so I was wondering what kind of dangers they were expecting?" Brock walked over to the next door and slid a card key through the electronic lock.

"Actually, it was my Dad who did most of the planning, my Mom just went along with the building of this because it was her hobby at the time."

"Well, what kind of danger was your father expecting?" Joy inquired as her's and the other boys' feet touched down on the ground, being careful not to trip over the remnants of the broken door.

"Well, with my Mom always switching hobbies, things were bound to get dangerous around here. My parents agreed that it was better to be safe than sorry because they couldn't predict the next hobby my Mom would pick." Brock explained. He entered in the pass code on the keypad, completely oblivious to his shocked expressions on his friend's faces. A click sounded as the door unlocked. Brock pushed the double doors to reveal a rec room with nine kids looking very comfortable as they sat on the couch watching television.

"Hey, Forest, everybody, are you all okay?" Brock asked, concern evident in his voice.

"We're fine, Brock. We've just been waiting for the alarm to go off since yesterday afternoon. Mom got interested in demolition again." Forest explained. Everybody sweat-dropped.

"Again? I thought she learned her lesson last time." Todd, Joy and Tracey exchanged looks of disbelief.

"I thought she had too, but this group of contractors came looking for her and Dad." Alarm bells sounded in Todd's head.

"What did these guys look like?" He asked nonchalantly.

"They all had the same uniform: A red body suit, black gloves and boots, and a red cap. My first thought was that they were remaining members from Team Rocket, but their costumes were all wrong, right down to the red 'D' monogrammed on the front of their shirts. Mom and Dad received them well enough, so they had to have been o.k. guys, right?" The teens exchanged troubled glances. Brock turned to his younger brother.

"Forest, I promise we'll explain on the way, but right now we need to get out of here. Where's the van?"

"Mom and Dad were supposed to pick it up from the shop today. What's going on Brock? Where are Mom and Dad?" The young boy asked. Brock sighed. He didn't want his little brother worrying about their parents yet.

"There's no time for questions right now. We don't have much time to spare if we're going to make it to Vermillion City." Forest wanted to delve further into the subject, but the look on his elder brother's face told him that the situation was urgent. He turned to his awaiting siblings and smiled reassuringly.

"Come on, everybody. Brock and his friends are taking us on a road trip. We'd better get ready now." The young ones traded curious looks before getting up to pack the emergency supplies...

* * *

A/N: Hooray! I finally updated. I've another chapter being written out for this story even as you read this and hopefully it will be up soon. You're going to see my attempts at describing a Pokemon battle, as well as plenty of action. I have so many ideas for this story, I'm going to have to sequels after I finish telling this one. Oh boy, this is gonna require a lot of of patience on both of our parts, but please have faith that it will all be worth it when I present the finished story.


	10. Ch 9: Come for the Show

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters.

Sorry that it took so long to get this out. (And yes, I know that I haven't updated any of my other stories either.) Anyways, I hope you enjoy and if you like the story thus far, feel free to leave me a review.

**Ch 9: Come for the Show**

The noontime sun hung high above as a large bird flies through the cloudy sky. It extends its tired wings to catch a thermal in an effort to conserve its strength for the long flight it has ahead.

"Are we there yet?" Ash whined from atop Pidgeot.

"Pikachu?" (Yeah, are we?)

"If I hadn't waited for you, I would have been there by now!" Misty yelled from behind him. Ash flinched.

"I didn't sleep that late," he muttered.

"Yeah, sleeping until 10:30 isn't very late, but did you have to scarf down everything you found in the fridge?"

"I had to find something to do while you were getting dressed. How is that you can take such a long time picking out your outfit when it's the only one that wasn't blown up with my house?" Ash pointed out. The field of vision turned milky white as they found themselves inside of a cloud. The sound of worlds colliding and a yelp of pain led a bewildered Pikachu to ponder the origins of the newly formed lump on the back of Ash's head once they exited the fluffy white molecules of mystery.

"For peat's sake, Ash. Who knows how long it's been since Professor Oak stocked the fridge? It's no wonder why your stomach keeps giving you problems," Misty reasoned. Ash's stomach rumbled in agreement.

"Speaking of which...I think it's time for another pit stop." Misty sighed as Ash guided Pidgeot down into the trees for the fourth time since they started.

'_I sure hope Ritchie and the other are fairing better than we are,_' she thought, fingertips massaging her temple while she tried to block out the sound of Ash's insides at war with the rest of him...

* * *

"Zippo, return!" Called a voice from the back alleys of an abandoned office building. A bright red glow surrounded Ritchie's Charizard before he returned to his pokéball.

"Thanks for the ride, Ritchie." Said Melody graciously as she smoothed out her mini-skirt.

"Yeah, thanks, Ritchie," Duplica smirked as she recalled her Ditto. "I could have been riding on a majestic Articuno; instead, I flew into town on a Fearow." Ritchie put his arms up in defense.

"Hey, the idea is to keep a low profile. We don't want to attract unnecessary attention." Duplica stared at him skeptically and pointed up. Ritchie diverted his gaze upwards just in time to see Casey and Beedrill performing their third somersault. Ritchie fell down with a look of pure disbelief.

"Casey! We're supposed to be keeping a low profile!" He yelled. Casey sighed, clearly disappointed, before making her descent and recalling her Beedrill.

"Gee, Ritchie. What did you have to go and ruin my fun for?" A pained look crossed Ritchie's face before quickly disappearing to escape her notice.

"I'm not trying to ruin anybody's fun. I just think we should get to the Cerulean Gym as quickly as possible without being noticed. You're forgetting that without Ash and Misty, we're severely lacking in attack power. What happens if we run into Team Devastation?" Casey gulped at the troubling thought.

"Maybe we should get going now," she agreed. Everyone exited the alley as stealthily as possible.

"Does anybody know which way the Gym is?" Duplica wondered. Casey raised her megaphone into the air.

"Follow me, everyone! I toured about half of this city when I was desperate enough to find someone to scam out of, er...I mean, legitimately buy tickets from, to the Electabuzz game," she assured. Everyone nodded, not having a clue as to how to get there themselves, heading to where they hoped to find the Cerulean Gym...

* * *

"Think they're already there?" Ash wondered as he, Misty and Pikachu passed by a large line.

"They must be by now. All they had to do was follow this humongous line." Misty remarked.

"Pikaaaaaa." (Sure are a lot of people.)

"Hey, Mist? Are you sure that all of these people are here to see your sisters' water ballet?" Misty nodded.

"Ever since we had Luverin and Caserin appear in our shows, the people coming have tripled." Ash looked over his shoulder, aware of the existence of the end of the line, but unable to see it.

"It's not too late to get tickets, is it?" Misty sighed.

'_The one time I'm not in the show since I came to be the Gym Leader, and now he wants to see one,_' Misty thought dejectedly as they made there way to the origins of the line, known to many eager people as the Cerulean Gym...

* * *

A half hour later, and we find Ritchie, Melody and Duplica following behind an increasingly less dependable tour guide that goes by the name of Casey.

"So, Casey. Which way do we go now?" Melody asked disdainfully. Casey looked left and right, but could not distinguish between the seemingly identical roads.

"Um...I'm not sure," she admitted.

"I thought you said you toured half of this place!" Melody demanded. Casey looked down, cheeks stained red with embarrassment.

"Guess it was the other half," she replied meekly, the tips of her index fingers touching. The fearsome look Melody sent her way caused Casey to shrink back in fear. She backed away from Melody's advancing form until walked into someone who wasn't there a second ago. After the initial shock of falling flat on her butt wore off, Casey glared at the boy in his late teens responsible for her lowered altitude. Her outrage was increased when she noticed the smeared sticky mess from the stranger's chocolate ice-cream. Flames of loathing in his eyes, Ritchie fixed his gaze on the eerily familiar person before them.

The tips of his jet-black hair hung in front of his dark sunglasses. The spiky-knuckled gloves were a bit intimidating, but his short-sleeve black shirt and dark blue jeans didn't feel threatening at all.

"What'd you do that for?" Ritchie demanded, not bothering to conceal his spiteful tone. The older boy smiled.

"I was just passing through. Your girlfriend was the one who bumped into me." The young adult dropped his now empty cone, stuck his hands in his pockets and walked past them laughing, rudely bumping into Ritchie in the process. Ritchie sent daggers into the back of the stranger's skull before stooping down to help Casey up.

"What's this?" Duplica wondered. She bent over and picked a crumpled piece of paper off the ground.

"That cute jerk must have dropped it," Melody concluded. Duplica unfolded the piece paper and gasped in surprise.

"It's a flyer for one of the Waterflower Water Ballets that's being held today. And it's got a map with the Cerulean Gym highlighted!" Duplica exclaimed triumphantly.

"Well, what do you know? That cute jerk actually helped us out," Melody mused. Ritchie's nostrils flared as he snorted.

"We would have been just fine with out his help."

"Chill out, Ritchie. That jerks gone and now we know where we're going. I'd say things have turned out for the better," Duplica reasoned. With the map as their guide, Duplica and Melody started walking down the right path.

"Yeah, Ritchie. You're acting like that guy just touched your most cherished treasure. I'm just glad this wasn't my autographed shirt," Casey remarked whimsically. She took a napkin from a nearby patron and wiped her shirt dry before following after Melody and Duplica. Ritchie paused to consider her words.

'_There's absolutely nothing wrong with coming to your friend's defense,_' Richie decided silently before running to catch up with them...

* * *

"Okay, I know that we're moving towards the beginning of the line, so why does it feel like we're not getting any closer?" Ash wondered. He and Misty had stumbled onto a 'trail' leading them straight towards the Cerulean Gym, where they hoped to run into the others soon, seeing as the enormous line was easier to follow than Team Rocket back to their conveniently labeled secret hideouts. Before Misty had a chance to answer Ash, a police car sped past them with sirens flashing like an all night rave.

"That can't be good!" Misty exclaimed before she broke into a full sprint, leaving Ash and Pikachu struggling to keep up with the abrupt change of pace. The speeding cop car turned the sharp corner and stopped at the front of the Cerulean Gym. Misty desperately charged after it, running past an alleyway when.

WHAM!

Ash and Pikachu rounded the corner and found Misty leaning against a parked car, and...

"Duplica!" Melody cried as she rushed to the dazed performer lying flat on her back. At the sound of her name, Duplica jumped to her feet, pumping her fist into the air.

"Tickets for the show go on sale tomorrow! Come see the Amazing Duplica and her Sensational Dittos giving a Breath-Taking view of Pokémon thought to have existed only in legends!"

"I think you knocked something loose," Casey noted dryly. Misty groaned.

"We really don't have time for this," she griped. Duplica remained oblivious to the time constraints, all the while continuing to advertise to her imaginary audience.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you gave her a Kingler-sized concussion," Ritchie remarked. Misty took a deep breath and exhaled. She calmly walked over to Duplica and promptly slammed her fist down on the confused girl's head. A blissful smile overtook Duplica's face before she hit the ground unconscious.

"What'd you do that for?" Ash exclaimed.

"Hey, it's your fault!" Misty accused. Ash stared at her flabbergasted.

"How is any of this my fault?"

"After hanging around you for 3 years, I'm inclined to strike anybody acting stupid. It just so happens that Duplica has unfortunately proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that your skull is far thicker than the average mortal."

"Ha ha, very funny. How's Duplica, Ritchie?" Ash inquired. Ritchie stared at Duplica with his hand to his chin, a contemplative expression present on his face.

"Looks like she's unconscious to me," he responded, causing everyone else to face-fault.

"Are you kidding me?" Melody shook her head in disbelief. "Even I could have told you that, and I failed life science! Twice!"

"That's not something I would go broadcasting," Ritchie advised.

"Hurry up and pick her up, Ritchie! We have to get going!" Casey shouted.

"Huh? Why should I have to? Misty's the one who knocked her senseless," Ritchie reminded.

"Yeah, but Misty and Ash are both gone, and Melody..." Casey pointed to where Melody was making her way inside the door on the side of the Gym.

"Don't people take responsibility for their actions anymore?" Ritchie grumbled as Casey helped position Duplica onto his back...

* * *

(Inside the Gym)

"...The man had green hair and brown eyes. The woman had blond hair and purple eyes." Daisy finished describing the intruders to the law enforcement officer.

"Daisy!" The golden-haired performer whipped her head away from the butt of the receding officer to face her youngest sister and her unofficial boyfriend bursting into the room.

"Well, like, hi sis. Shouldn't you be getting ready for the carnival dance tonight?" Misty groaned and rolled her eyes.

"Never mind that now, Daisy. What were the police here for?" Daisy smiled and waved it off.

"Nothing to worry about. It was just Cassidy and Bob again. I thought that they'd been put in jail, but I guess they're up to no good again."

"Did they take anything? Where are Violet and Lily?" Misty asked frantically.

"Relax little sister. Dewgong and your Gyarados took care of those losers. Lily and Violet are rehearsing their lines in the other room."

"I'm gonna check on the Pokémon," Misty declared before she ran towards the pool.

"Hold on, Misty! I'll come with you!" Ash called after her, but before he could follow, Daisy put him in a full nelson.

"Just one minute, Ash."

"Something I can help you with, Daisy?" Ash inquired once struggling proved futile.

"Why aren't you guys getting ready for the dance that was supposed to be happening tonight?"

"Even though I didn't want to go in the first place, it's not possible right now." Daisy loosened her grip a little.

"Why not?"

"Because the carnival literally went out with a bang. Now will you let go of me? I'm starting to lose feeling in my arms."

"Oh, my bad," Daisy sheepishly apologized before letting go.

"The show should be starting soon. Aren't you going to let those people in?" Daisy and Ash looked behind them to see Melody pointing to the door where many people could be seen, anxiously waiting to get their money's worth.

"Oh no! I like, totally forgot. Ash, I need you to stall them while I go and make sure everything is ready." She ran off before Ash could protest.

"But how am I supposed to..." Ash fell silent once his eyes settled on Melody. The young islander waved her hand in front of blank look on Ash's face.

"Um, Ash? The attention is flattering and all, but your starting to give me the creeps." Ash broke out of his daze.

"Heh, sorry Melody. I was just thinking... do you remember the choreography that went along with the song in your performance?"

"Stop right there, Ash! There is no way I'm going out there to prance around in front of all those people. The song may have been important, but that doesn't mean that I want to play, dance, and recite that same prophecy I do every year, when I don't have to, not even for you."

"All I'm asking is that you dance and play your Ocarina. I'll borrow one of the scripts and read the prologue or something when you finish." Ash clasped his hands together. "Pretty please with sugar on top? My last few attempts at stalling have ended in disaster."

"But I don't even have the ceremonial dress I wear when I perform," Melody protested, noticeably weaker than before.

"That's okay. You can borrow something of Misty's. She's been in plenty of the shows over here." Ash assured. The pleading look on Ash's face eventually felled the last of Melody's resistance.

"Oh, fine. But you're going to owe me big for this," she relented. Ash simply smiled and led her to the walk-in closet to get changed...

* * *

"Could you get the door, Casey? My hands are kind of full." Ritchie was of course referring to the still unconscious Duplica now drooling on his shoulder.

"I thought that it was the gentleman who opened the door for the lady," Casey teased as she opened the door.

"Well, make sure you let me know when you see a lady around." He retorted as he walked inside. A powerful strike to his rear made him teeter forward, forcing him to take a few steps forward to compensate for the extra weight shifting.

"What was that for?" Ritchie demanded.

"Just be happy that you're carrying Duplica. Otherwise I would have gone straight for my bat," Casey growled before stomping past him.

'_It was just a joke. What is she getting so worked up for?_' Ritchie wondered.

'_The nerve of him! I'm just as much a lady as Melody and all the Waterflower sisters. I know I'm no less than Duplica at least. I thought I'd left that debate back home._' Casey was so absorbed in her thoughts, she failed to notice the fluffy apparition in front of her before she walked face-first into a pink cloud of fabric.

"Hey! Watch where you're going short stuff!" Melody warned. Casey spat out the taste of fabric and burst into a fit of laughter.

"Melody, is that you? What are you wearing?" Casey was of course referring to the hot pink outfit with frills Melody wore with a displeased look on her face.

"Hey, I didn't choose to wear this. The lousy fashion sense belongs to Mister 'Chosen One' over there!" Melody defended.

"Well, it seemed to go with the story intro I found on the desk in the lobby," Ash reasoned.

"Fine, whatever," Melody agreed and started heading for the door. "Just don't forget the flowers and chocolate on our date!" Ash's jaw dropped in surprise.

"Date? Hold on Melody! Who said anything about a date?" Ash called after her as they went out the door. Casey glanced to the side and saw Misty approaching.

'_This could be trouble,_' Casey realized. The sound of a second set of footsteps reached her ears and she glanced to the other side of the room to see Ritchie. Deciding that the inconsiderate trainer still deserved the silent treatment, Casey stomped past Misty, pausing long enough to glare at Ritchie before heading out the door.

"The tension is so thick in here, I don't think that even Tracey's Scyther could cut through it. What was that all about?" Misty inquired.

"She's still mad about what I said earlier." Ritchie replied.

"What, did you badmouth the Electabuzz or something?" Misty mused. Ritchie shook his head.

"No, nothing like that." He laid Duplica on a nearby bench as he explained the reason for Casey's hostility. After he finished the explanation, Misty walked over to him and rapped her knuckles on the side of his head.

"Oww… what was that for?" Ritchie asked as he rubbed his now sore head.

"Honestly, Ritchie. I'd expect that kind of insensitivity from Ash, … well… mostly Ash. Now Brock, he… no, that was Ash too…"

"Speaking of Ash, where is he?" Before Misty could respond, she heard the melodic rhythm of the Ballad of Lugia bringing forth memories of first confession.

"Wow, is this the song that Melody played at the celebration for the Chosen One?" Ritchie wondered. Misty nodded.

"Yeah…" She fell silent upon hearing Ash's voice.

"_**Darkening skies cloud a once proud Kingdom**_

_**A curse placed upon it to exact revenge**_

_**A rejected Enchantress**_

_**A handsome Prince**_

_**Two gems of legend that can banish the darkness**_

_**Lost at sea**_

_**Guarded by a ferocious serpent**_

_**A hopeful Prince**_

_**An adventure-seeking Mermaid**_

_**Her oceans plagued by the upper world**_

_**Join together to save their people."**_

Murmurs of excitement sounded throughout the crowd as anticipation built up within the eager bodies of the patient audience. A round of applause spread out amongst them, causing Ash to rub his nose and a light blush of content spread across Melody's face.

A little girl tugged on her mother's skirt. "Mommy, are they the prince and mermaid?" The mother looked down towards her daughter's questioning face with a smile.

"They sure do make a cute couple, don't they?" The little girl nodded vigorously, her golden locks bouncing in her face.

Having heard the comments directed at them, Ash and Melody took sidelong glances at each other, both blushing a deep red in response.

Misty frowned at their reaction. Despite Melody knowing of her feelings for Ash, could she be harboring some as well?

"Well, like, what do you know, it looks like Ash managed to keep 'em busy after all," Daisy observed. Ritchie and Misty jumped back to make room for Daisy's sudden appearance.

"Huh? You mean that you asked Ash and Melody to entertain everybody while you made sure everything was ready?" Misty wondered.

"I left the job up to Ash, but I guess that Melody wanted to, like, help out also,"Daisy shrugged. Misty nodded.

"That was nice of her."

Noticing the hint of sadness detectable in her voice, Ritchie opted to change the subject. "Is everything ready now, Daisy?" Daisy nodded, also aware of the bitter feelings present in her baby sister.

"Uh-huh. Lily and Violet are totally ready to go on. How about collecting tickets, Misty?" Daisy's question fell on deaf ears because Misty was already on the other side of the door with a sullen look on her face. Daisy grimaced.

"Well, I like, guess that leaves you to collect the tickets for me, Ritchie." Ritchie sighed and nodded. '_Roped in again,'_ he thought bitterly.

"What is it that you wanted me to do with people who don't have a ticket?"

"Tickets at the door are as follows: Adults for $10, teens for $5, and kids get in for the totally low, low price of completely free. Go ahead and get Ash and Melody to help you sell and collect tickets." Ritchie nodded his head as Daisy left to change into her costume.

* * *

"Ah hah! Returning to the scene of the crime!"

Misty looked up to see Duplica leaning against the wall in front of her with a coy smile on her face. Misty returned the awkward smile.

"Sorry about earlier, Duplica. I should have been watching where I was going…and used common sense instead of resorting to my specialized methods specifically for Ash," she apologized. Duplica laughed heartily.

"I think the problem is that you used too much common sense. You're so used to Ash being the source of chaos, you instinctively bash anything that gets out of control. The problem is that you forgot that unlike Ash, I'm a normal human. A normal human being couldn't possibly survive all that Ash has gone through." Misty smiled.

"Well, he wasn't alone you know. Brock and I were there to save his sorry butt when he got in over his head." Duplica giggled.

"You mean all the time, right?" Misty nodded, both girls breaking into a wild fit of laughter before Duplica started toppling backwards. Misty lunged forward and managed to catch her friend before she fell for the third time that day.

"Guess I'm still a bit woozy," Duplica admitted. Misty nodded as she led her to the kitchen. She helped Duplica sit at a small table before pulling an ice pack from the freezer and handing it to her. Duplica winced once the cold was applied to the lumps Misty gave her.

"Thanks, Misty. So, what have I missed?" Duplica wondered. Misty filled her in on all of the things that occurred following her sucktacular collision with Misty's fist and forehead.

"It sounds to me like you're jealous of Melody.," Duplica replied plainly, causing Misty to blush momentarily.

"That's ridiculous! Why would I possibly be jealous of Melody?" Duplica shrugged.

"Maybe it's because you harbor some sort of feelings for Ash?" Misty face-faulted.

"That's even crazier." Duplica stared at Misty with a blank look. Misty started pacing around the room.

"Okay, let's say that, hypothetically, I was a little, and I'm talking a trace amount, unnerved by Melody's close proximity to Ash for the last couple of hours, and that, hypothetically, I have some kind of 'feelings' for Ash. What should I do about it?" She asked uncertainly. Duplica gave her a reassuring smile.

"Have you ever thought about confessing your feelings, hypothetically I mean?" Misty shook her head.

"No. I've always been afraid that it would ruin our friendship if he didn't feel the same way I do about him. Hypothetically speaking of course," she hastily added.

"Of course," Duplica assured with a wink. "But you really should consider telling Ash."

"Tell me what?" Before Duplica could even utter a cry of alarm, Misty's hands were covering her mouth in an instant.

"Tell you that, um…your shirt is un-tucked. Yeah, that's it. I meant to tell you that your shirt is un-tucked." Misty replied weakly.

"Uh, Misty? My shirt is kind of **always** un-tucked," Ash reminded.

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed," Misty replied with an embarrassed laugh, causing all three trainers to sweat-drop.

"Anyways, I'm here to tell you that the tickets are being collected as we speak and that your sisters asked Casey to tell us that we're the new stage hands," Ash explained. Misty nodded.

"Of course! I'll get right on it!" She left in the room in a rush, leaving a thoroughly confused Ash with Duplica. Ash turned to Duplica and jerked his thumb back towards the door Misty exited through.

"What was that all about? I thought Misty had knocked **you** silly." Duplica could only shrug in response with a nervous smile on her face.

* * *

A half hour later and the audience members are now patiently waiting in the dark for the spotlight that would signal the start of the performance. All eyes were focused on the elevated swimming pool that would be serving as the stage.

"Everybody ready?" Daisy inquired over the wireless headsets.

"Ready," The new stage crew replied in unison.

"I don't see why my sisters couldn't have just hired people to do this?" Misty complained from her position. Ash, who was right next to her, shrugged in response

"Your sisters admitted that we were cheaper labor," he whispered.

At station #2, Ritchie was making his own inquiries.

"Hey, Casey, something's different about you, but I can't put my finger on it," Ritchie rubbed his chin as he tried to place what had changed.

"Oh, really?" Casey giggled. '_All right! It_'s_ working!'_ She thought triumphantly. She resisted the urge to touch the trace amounts of blush and eye shadow Violet had applied to her face in response to her desires to prove her femininity to Ritchie.

Ritchie snapped his fingers. "I know! It's because you turned your hat backwards!" Casey sighed disappointedly.

"Now I can see that you've put make-up on," Ritchie continued, but the spotlight turning on and the start of the prelude to the show drowned out the sound of his voice. None of the six trainers noticed the menacingly familiar silhouette above them as the story intro played over the loud speaker:

_**Since the beginning age of the world, magic has been present in even the smallest life form…**_

_**But as with every resource, there existed a pure source in the form of two gems…**_ (At this point, Staryu swims to the center of the tank and uses Substitute to make a clone of himself.)

_**These two Staryu cores housed the complete essences of good magic, and bad magic keeping it balanced as they swam in harmony… **_(Staryu and his substitute dance around in a rhythmic sphere) _**  
**_

_**There were those who sought to use these pokémon for their own impure intentions and would stop at nothing to obtain them…**_

_**Seeing the plight of the two Staryu, the merpeople took pity on them; hiding them away in an underwater cavern guarded by a ferocious Gyarados…**_

(Both Staryu swim into an underwater cave.)

_**With the largest sources of magic sealed, the world started to erode…**_

_**Learning of the merpeople's actions, the upper world declared war on them; trust between them was shattered forever…**_

_**Centuries passed, and the newly crowned Prince must choose a bride before he can reign…**_

_**The first Princess he laid his eyes upon attracted him. However, once informed that her kingdom was among the lowest in power and prosperity, he quickly refused her.**_

_**Heartbroken and dejected, the forsaken Princess used a mysterious source of magic to place a terrible curse on the vain Prince's kingdom…**_

_**Determined to free his people from the results of his prejudice, the Prince sets off in search of the only source of magic strong enough to lift the curse, located within the depths of the sea…**_

The bottom of the tank began to glow a brilliant purple.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Ash exclaimed "How'd your sisters set that up, Mist?" Misty shook her head.

"They never told me anything about this."

A loud screeching over the P.A. system was soon followed by maniacal laughter. Two ropes dropped down from the rafters, illuminated by the redirected spotlights.

"Hey, who reprogrammed the angle of the spotlights?" Duplica exclaimed.

"I don't know. We were right here the whole time," Melody reminded. Two familiar silhouettes descended the ropes with the aid of their harnesses, into the spotlights.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Better make it double!"

"To infect the world with Devastation!"

"To blight all people in every nation!"

"To pronounce the evils of truth and love!"

"T o extend or wrath to the stars above!"

"Cassidy!"

"Butch!"

"Team Devastation, circling earth all day and night!"

"Surrender to us now, or you will surely lose the fight!"

The familiar uniforms seemed unaltered save for the 'D' now adorning their tops.

"It's Cassidy!" Ritchie exclaimed.

"And Bob Marley!" Casey added.

"For the last time, my name is, Butch! You hear me? Butch! We've done this for years and you still can't get it right!"

"Didn't you creeps learn your lesson already?" Daisy called out from atop the diving board. Cassidy wagged her finger.

"Before, we were simply searching. Now that we found what we're looking for, we'll be sure to stick around until we retrieve it."

"What could you possibly want from the Cerulean Gym?" Misty demanded. Butch snickered.

"It's not just this Gym, little miss. Every Pokémon Gym has a little piece of what we want!" He held up a small device in his hand. "This little doo-hickey just confirms what we already know." He turned a dial on the small device, causing the bottom of the pool to glow purple once again.

"Well that explains the glowing earlier," Ritchie quipped.

"Enough with the talking! It's time we got what we came here for!" Cassidy held up a small silver box about the size of a box of Kleenex and threw it into the water. "Now it's time to let this show go out with a bang!" She cackled as she pulled out a small remote.

"IT'S A BOMB!" Someone from the audience screamed, causing pandemonium in the stands.

"Staryu! Destroy that remote with a Swift attack!" Misty yelled.

"Hiya!" (I'm on it!) Staryu burst out of the cave, spinning rapidly like a shuriken firing a multitude of small, yellow stars as it burst from the water. Cassidy smirked before throwing out a pokéball. Out popped her Sableye, which immediately used Knock Off to send Staryu flying back into the water.

"Sableye Sable." (You stay away from my master.) Misty turned to Ash.

"I can handle Cassidy and Butch. The rest of you have to get the audience out of here before Cassidy blows up the arena." Ash looked hesitant, but nodded and took off with the others. Misty threw out another pokéball and released her Corsola. "Ready to battle, Corsola?" Corsola nodded.

"Corsola!" (We can't let them win!)

"Okay, Spike Cannon!"…

* * *

A/N: And that pretty much ends this half. The real battle stuff starts next half, and I can assure you that it at least matches if not surpasses what you normally see on the show. And if anyone liked my little fairy-tale, go ahead and tell me. I might make it into a separate story. The next chapter should be up no later than next week-end. I've written about 70 of it and I still have to type it, but that shouldn't take too long.


	11. Ch 10: Stay for the Battle

**Disclaimer ****: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters**

**A/N: I think you guys have pretty much come to terms with my style of writing; from now on I'll leave out the document layouts at the top. **

**Thanks goes in whole to both Rawhide and PhoenixClaw. If not for them, I wouldn't have the resources to post my stories, and this would be ready even later then when I promised.  
**

**On another note, this is where things start to heat up for our heroes. It's probably the most action I've included in this story so far. **

**Which actually requires me to bring up the fact that there's a bit of bloody violence here, so even though I can take this (I wrote it after all), I know that some people are squeamish. Just thought I'd warn you all. **

**Ch 10: Stay for the Battle**

"Go, Hitmontop!" Butch tossed his pokéball to release the fighting type Pokémon. "Rapid Spin!" Hitmontop flipped upside down and began rotating clockwise at an accelerated rate, deflecting Corsola's Spikes.

"Now, Staryu! Get rid of that bomb!"

"Don't let that Pokémon near it, Hitmontop!" The tip of Hitmontop's head neared the surface of the water, creating a large whirlpool to suck Staryu out.

"Staryu, counter with your own Rapid Spin!" Misty cried out desperately, but Hitmontop was already reaching its maximum rotation speed, descending deeper into the pool as it drilled a path to the bottom.

"Now Sableye, use Shadow Ball!" Cassidy ordered. Staryu traveled up the water cyclone and was shot into the air directly into the path that Sableye launched its attack.

"Corsola, help Staryu!" Corsola was on the scene in an instant with a Mirror Coat ready. The dark ball of energy was reflected downwards toward Hitmontop.

"Hitmon!" (Aw nuts!) The fighting Pokémon cried out in surprise as he was knocked off his axis, propelled out of the pool, and crashed into the now evacuated stands. Corsola started breathing heavily, the toll from taking that last hit catching up with her.

"Corsola, Recover!" The tired coral Pokémon began glowing upon activation of her restoration powers.

"Don't let up, Hitmontop! Attack that Corsola before it gets its strength back!" Hitmontop burst from the rubble and delivered a jump kick to Corsola before could she could fully recover.

"Corsola, return!" Misty held up the pokéball to let the beam of red light recall the fainted Pokémon. Butch smirked.

"Nice try, Missy, but you shouldn't have underestimated us," he taunted. "Now Hitmontop, use Triple Kick on the girl!"

The three-legged pokémon nodded and rushed at Misty. The young Gym Leader gritted her teeth, expecting the worst. Without warning, a pair of vines wrapped around the waist and legs of Hitmontop, instantly halting his movements.

"Now slam it, Meganium!" The grass type nodded before she slammed Hitmontop into the concrete floor.

"What the—augh!" Cassidy exclaimed in surprise before raising her forearm to block the blinding light shining in her eyes.

"Casey! Nice timing!" Misty exclaimed with a grateful laugh.

"Don't forget us!" Misty looked up to see Duplica and Melody on top of the diving board, directing a Ditto spotlight at Cassidy's face.

"We've got your back, so hurry up and save the Gym already!" Melody chipped in. Misty nodded.

"Thanks you guys! Time to fish out that bomb, Staryu!" Staryu launched into a rapid spin down towards the rapidly settling explosive canister.

"Oh no you don't!" Sableye launched a Night Shade attack at the platform supporting Duplica and Melody. Ditto instantly shifted into a gooey pink rope and wrapped itself around Duplica's wrist, halting her fall. Duplica reached out for Melody's outstretched hand, but was short by mere centimeters. The same ghostly pale expression crossed both girls faces as Melody continued to plummet to the ground below. Halfway down she felt something wrap itself around her waist; a tightening sensation was followed by the realization that she was no longer falling uncontrollably. Melody looked down to see Casey riding on top of Meganium's back with a smirk on her face.

"Looks like I've got **your** back, Melody!" Melody breathed a sigh of relief, resigning herself to the vines lowering her gently to the ground. Seeing that her friends were no longer in imminent danger, Misty turned back in time to see Sableye pin Staryu to the bottom of the pool with a Double Edge. Misty glared at Cassidy.

Cassidy smiled wickedly and held out the detonator. Misty's blood ran cold. _'She wouldn't!'_

"But your pokémon will be blown to bits!" Misty yelled. Cassidy shrugged.

"Now Hitmontop!" Butch ordered. Hitmontop climbed out of the impression he left in the floor and dashed towards Casey and Meganium.

"Triple Kick!" Butch called out. Casey dismounted off Meganium and held up her bat in defense, determined to buy Meganium enough time to safely lower Melody to the ground. The other girls watched in horror as Casey was disarmed with the first kick, and received a brutal kick to the chest with the second. A small spurt of blood was released from Casey's mouth upon impact, her mind flashing red from the pain; she was unconscious before she hit the wall and slid to the floor with a thud, lying motionless in a crumpled heap.

"GO ALREADY, MEGANIUM!" Melody screamed down at the giant flower pokémon. Meganium nodded before releasing her hold on Melody, who ungracefully fell on her butt, getting there just in time to take the third kick, the sheer force sending Meganium crashing through the wall.

Misty gritted her teeth with rage.

"Don't forget about me, runt!" Cassidy called down to her. Misty whipped her head around just in time to see Cassidy push the switch.

"NOOOOO! STARYU!" Misty screamed. The small cube flashed yellow before it detonated inside the pool. Melody's eyes locked on Casey's helpless form. She dashed forward to protect the injured girl with her own body, facing forward with arms shielding her face and heart. Melody shut out all feeling when shards of glass cut into her skin, despite the pain when a jagged piece bounced up and managed to slash across her right eye socket. A cry of anguish finally escaping from her mouth when a large shard, roughly a foot in length embedded itself deep into her left thigh, piercing through to the other side. The strength in her leg failing instantly, Melody collapsed on one knee and clasped a hand over her eye, her good eye focused on the miniature tsunami approaching. Duplica and Ditto dropped down without warning, the latter transforming into a barricade to prevent them all from being washed away.

"Melody, are you okay?" Duplica asked worriedly.

"Never better.," Melody assured weakly, smiling despite the burning pain in her leg and increasing lightheaded sensation caused by the blood trickling through her fingertips.

"Go ahead and get them out of here, Duplica!"

Butch and Cassidy lowered themselves into the rubble to recover their prize, coming face-to-face with Misty as the smoke cleared.

"I'm not going to leave you alone!" Duplica protested.

"Think about it! Ash and Ritchie still haven't come back. Butch and Cassidy must have brought backup, so you need to get Casey and Melody to a hospital while you can!"

"But…"

"Duplica! Go! I can only buy you so much time!" Duplica turned back towards her wounded companions, seeing the shallow breathing of Casey, and Melody's condition.

"Sorry to be such a burden," Melody apologized. Duplica put on a determined look.

"C'mon, Ditto! Let's get them out of here!" She ran to Casey's side and grabbed the correct pokéball before returning Meganium to her pokéball. Ditto finished transforming into a perfect copy of an Arcanine. Duplica helped Melody climb onto Arcanine's crouching form before carefully handing her Casey.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Misty!" Duplica promised before grabbing Casey's bat and climbing on Arcanine. Arcanine stood on all fours before using Extreme Speed to race out the hole in the wall.

"Thanks for the offer, Duplica, but I'll take care of these two no problem," Misty declared. Butch laughed incredulously.

"I got this Cassidy. The girl is obviously delirious from smoke inhalation." Cassidy nodded in agreement, a look of contemplation on her face.

'_I don't know, Butch. She weathered both the explosion and the miniature flood, but she doesn't have a scratch on her.'_

"Hitmontop, use Mega Kick!"

"Hitmon!" (This ends here!) Hitmontop's three legs gave him incredible speed as it dashed towards Misty. He jumped into the air and kicked out at Misty.

Misty mouthed something inaudible and a transparent wall appeared inches in front of her to absorb Hitmontop's attack, the sheer force of the attack sending her skidding back towards the remains of the bleachers.

"What, what are you?" Butch exclaimed.

"A gift from Staryu."

Misty's response stunned Butch momentarily before he smirked at the revelation.

"Aw, isn't that precious? She thinks that pathetic pokémon gave her one final gift by leaving that Reflect wall in place. Too bad it's worn off by now. Maybe next time you'll think about your Pokémon's safety instead of worrying about those weaklings in the stands."

"Don't give me that bull. Team Rocket, Team Devastation, either way you guys don't value the lives of people or pokémon," Misty remarked with an icy tone.

"Au contrairé, little girl. My pokémon are very important to me," Cassidy objected. A shadow slowly approached her before revealing himself to be her Sableye. "It's a shame that your Staryu didn't have a more competent trainer." To Cassidy's surprise, a look of relief appeared on Misty's face.

"Good. I was afraid that Sableye had paid for your heartlessness."

Butch chuckled. "I guess for a sentimental fool like yourself, having the opponents pokémon survive must be quite a relief." Misty remained silent.

"You really are pathetic, you know that?" Butch decided. He snapped his fingers, signaling for his Hitmontop to deliver the final blow. Hitmontop jumped towards Misty, two feet aimed for a Double Kick.

"Reflect!" Misty called out. Another transparent wall came to Misty's defense.

"I thought you said that it had worn off by now!" Cassidy shouted at her partner.

"It did, I mean it should have!" Butch defended.

"It did," Misty assured. "I just had Staryu make another." She opened her left hand to reveal a small, orange starfish resting in her palm.

"Don't tell me that Staryu used Minimize to escape that explosion!" Cassidy exclaimed.

"It looks like I won't have to," Misty replied coolly. "Now don't act all surprised Cassidy. I'm sure that someone with your overwhelming intellect had already figured out you've been battling Staryu's Substitute from the beginning."

'_That little brat has been playing with us all along,'_ Cassidy realized.

"When taking the selection test to be Gym Leader here, I ran into a trio of deceitful trainers. I learned firsthand that I'd have to be prepared for anything my opponent could throw at me." She took a deep breath before continuing. "But more importantly, I learned that you have to be willing to sacrifice everything to protect the innocent. And as much as I love this Gym and my position, I've known all along that it I'd have to be willing to lose it."

"Ugh. Spare me that sappy nonsense, please," Butch retched. Misty smirked.

"It's not nonsense," she defended. "It's that way of thinking that will give me the strength to beat you!" She kissed her next pokéball before throwing it forward. With a flash of light, out popped her Gyarados with a ferocious snarl. The mere sight of the blue serpent was enough to send chills down the Devastation Duo's spines.

'_Arrgh. She's been stalling until the place was empty this entire time. I can't believe she's been holding that back until it was just us and her,'_ Butch grimaced.

"Butch, grab the container! We're getting out of here now!" Cassidy ordered.

"Don't tell me that you're afraid of this kid, Cassidy."

"Of course not! Our goal is to recover the container at all costs. We can't afford to have her stop us from carrying out our mission!" Butch stepped back in surprise from the force of her voice, but quickly recovered and dove for the container.

"Hold it!" Misty demanded.

"Use Flash, Sableye!" Cassidy ordered.

A brilliant illumination filled the room, forcing Misty to shield her eyes with her forearm. When the light faded, Butch and Cassidy were gone, leaving behind the indentation from whatever it was that they took from what was left of the pool floor; not to mention about thirty or so low ranking grunts sporting various electric pokémon.

'_I think it's time I got out of here,'_ Misty thought in disbelief. "Gyarados!" Gyarados aimed his mouth upwards before launching a devastating Hyper Beam towards the ceiling. The grunts ran around frantically trying to find an exit before the entire building collapsed. Gyarados extended his body towards the hole in the wall to provide Misty cover from the falling debris as she ran for the exit. Misty recalled Gyarados into his pokéball before a large rock could crush him.

'_Goodbye, Cerulean Gym.'_ She took one last look before heading outside to escape being crushed as Cerulean Gym caved in on itself…

* * *

A chain of footsteps echoed past a seemingly empty alleyway occupied by a lone dumpster and a few Rattata. A few of the lower ranked grunts from Team Devastation stopped. One in particular approached the dumpster, scaring away the wild pokémon as he approached. He began opening the lid of the dumpster when one of his comrades called out to him.

"You there, quit fooling around! We've got to get back on the trail of those girls that left the Cerulean Gym. They couldn't have gotten very far with the injuries they sustained."

"But…"

"Just throw your trash on the ground. It's far too late in the game for you to be thinking about Mother Nature."

The soldier shrugged, throwing the remainder of his lunch on the ground and rejoining his comrades to get back on the girls' trail. Or so they thought.

The lid of the dumpster lifted slightly and a pair of brown eyes peeked out from the darkness.

'_I never thought I'd owe my life to littering,'_ Duplica thought with a laugh. She climbed out of the dumpster and carefully peeked around both corners.

"Okay, Ditto. The coast is clear, so you can transform back now." The dingy green dumpster wiggled before it shrank back into the pink changeling pokémon.

"I don't mean to rush you, but I'm feeling really dizzy now," Melody said drowsily. Duplica grimaced. She had already undone Melody's headdress and instructed her to apply it to her eye to slow the bleeding, but the wound on Melody's leg proved too difficult to treat without proper medical supplies.

'_And here I grew up believing that laughter was the best kind of medicine,'_ Duplica thought ironically. She took out the flier that led them to Cerulean Gym and skimmed over it for about the hundredth time that day. After a bit of frantic searching, she located what she was looking for and breathed a sigh of relief.

"We're in luck. The closest hospital is just around the corner. Think you can make it?" Duplica asked concernedly. Melody's good eye glanced at Casey before she nodded.

"I have to. Casey's breathing okay I think, but we need to get her to a doctor as soon as possible. But I guess we should be thankful that she's still alive after taking a direct hit like that," Melody replied grimly.

"We can't be thinking that way right now. What we need is a fast mode of travel that's fairly inconspicuous, which means that a dodge viper is out of the question since I don't even have a permit." Duplica scratched her head in frustration. "Wait, I got it! Ditto, transform into a Chinatown buggy!"

"Ditto!" (Okay, but next time it's the dodge viper!) Ditto slithered underneath Melody and Casey before it shifted into the desired mode of transportation, much to Melody's chagrin for the disorienting movement. Duplica grinned as she picked up the reigns.

"Too bad, I have an outfit that would have gone perfectly with this. Oh well, to the hospital!" Duplica exclaimed, running as fast as possible to avoid running into Team Devastation. Onlookers were a bit surprised to see a plain clothed girl pulling the old fashioned cart, but traffic accommodated for their presence hinting that Duplica had made the right call.

It wasn't very long before the front of the hospital came into sight.

"Help!" Duplica cried out. Fortunately, an on-call Doctor on his way to his car heard Duplica's voice and decided to investigate.

"What happened?" He inquired upon seeing the condition of Casey and Melody. Duplica explained the circumstances directly relating their injuries, choosing to omit specific details about Team Devastation, especially their connection with them. The Doctor gave the girls a quick examination before he switched on his intercom.

"I need two stretchers out here stat. I have two patients here, both female, with severe injuries. The first is a young girl with serious chest injuries and a possible concussion; she also appears to have dislocated her right shoulder. The second is in her mid-teens with a large laceration across the right side of her face, also loosing blood at an alarming rate due to a large shard of glass embedded in her left thigh."

"Copy that. Medics are on their way. Will prep for surgery." A voice on the other end answered. "Have you confirmed the cause of injury?"

"Terrorist activity located at the Cerulean Gym."

"Copy that. The police are on their way."

The Doctor turned to Duplica before putting his hands on her shoulders.

"Your friends are in good hands," he reassured. Duplica nodded gratefully, her good spirits restoring upon sight of the approaching medics. Melody looked over at Casey.

'_Hard to believe that little baseball nut stood up to those guys like that, not to mention saved my life. She looks so weak and fragile…sleeping like that,'_ Melody thought idly. She slipped into slumber, completely unaware of the medics easing her onto the stretcher…

* * *

Misty had managed to escape from the scene undetected, now increasingly determined to meet up with her sisters and friends. As she ran down the fairly empty sidewalk, she resisted the urge to turn around and gaze at the remains of the Gym now three blocks away. It looked like someone must have called the cops because a few cars drove past her as she continued to increase the distance.

'_And the worst thing is, I was the one who leveled it,'_ she reminded herself while fighting back stinging tears. She shook her head to clear her mind of those thoughts.

"It's all because of Butch and Cassidy. The next time I see those guys…" Her vengeful thoughts were watered down when the melodic tune of an ice cream truck approaching from behind reached her ears.

'_I bet I know where a certain Pokémon Master-in-training would be right now,'_ Misty thought with a smile. She turned around, almost expecting to see Ash chasing after the truck. It was about twice as long as a normal truck, a large ice cream cone on the top, but the thing Misty's eyes focused on were the green locks of the driver. Misty hesitated momentarily before her memory sorted itself.

"Butch!" She yelled furiously as he drove past her. Butch heard the familiar voice and looked in the rear view mirror to see Misty running after the truck. He stepped on the gas despite the changing traffic lights. The light flashed red before he darted through the intersection, ignoring the cars that slammed on their brakes to avoid running into him.

Misty followed after him, mind focused solely on catching up with him. She was so absorbed in her pursuit, the sound of screeching tires to the right was filtered out until it was too late to avoid the yellow convertible. She closed her eyes, expecting to feel the pain from the speeding car crashing into her, but was distracted by the increasing pressure on her shoulders that somehow made her feel lighter than air. Misty's eyes opened to reveal that the ground was a few feet below her, and that the sports car drove harmlessly past. She looked up to see the Pidgeot attached to the talons gently gripping her shoulders.

"Need a lift?"

"Pi, Pikachupi?" (Did you miss us, Misty?)

Misty smiled at the young trainer and the Pikachu riding on his shoulder, before a thought occurred to her.

"WHERE HAVE YOU TWO BEEN?" Misty demanded. "And for that matter, where are Ritchie and my sisters?"

Ash flinched. "Sorry, Mist. We were ambushed as soon as we got outside. Ritchie and I barely got your sisters to their car before we were forced to flee. I told Ritchie to stay with your sisters while I came back for you, and well, here I am." Misty smirked.

"The real question is, did you come here to save me, or are you just after the ice cream?" Misty inquired. Ash put his hand to his chin, a serious expression on his face. A vein flared on Misty's temple. "You shouldn't have to think about it!" Ash laughed at her outburst.

"I'm just kidding, Mist. Of course I came for you," he assured. "The ice cream is just an added bonus," he added with total conviction. Misty sighed, but couldn't help but giggle slightly at his response.

'_Same old Ash.'_

"I guess that's an acceptable response. Now get us closer to that truck," Misty ordered. Ash chuckled.

"Yes, Ma'am!" He saluted.

"Pi Pikachu!" (Let's go for it!) Pikachu mimicked Ash's salute.

Ash guided Pidgeot on a beeline towards the wide roof of the ice cream truck. He and Misty dismounted with a clang before Ash recalled Pidgeot back into her pokéball. Cassidy glanced at the passenger side mirror and noticed Ash and Misty standing by the large ice cream cone on the roof.

"We've got company." Cassidy nudged Butch and pointed to the reflection in the mirror. Butch groaned.

"I'll shake 'em." He turned the wheel sharply to the right, cutting off an old lady turning out of a driveway, and nearly throwing Ash and Misty into oncoming traffic.

"Think they know we're here?" Ash asked with a grin, despite the need to focus his attention on maintaining his grip on the side railing. Misty smirked back.

"I don't know, why don't you ask them?"

The truck hit a bump and Misty's fingers slipped off the railing. The color drained from Ash's face as he saw Misty dropping. Their eyes locked and the same thought passed through both trainer's minds.

"ASH!"

"MISTY!"

"ALTO MARE!" They screamed in unison before throwing their pokéballs forward.

Ash's Bayleef extended her vines for Misty to catch, enabling her to stay on the truck's path while surfing via Starmie's Water Gun.

"What do we have to do to lose these kids?" Butch grumbled. He tilted the wheel, guiding the truck into oncoming traffic.

"Hang on, Misty!" Ash warned as he pulled himself to safety. He stood up and turned to Bayleef. "Pull her in, Bayleef."

"Bay, Bay!" (I'm on it, Ash!) Misty held on tightly, swerving in between cars, and prayed for Bayleef to hurry.

The familiar sound of pokémon being released echoed behind Ash. He slowly turned around to see both Cassidy's Houndoom and Butch's Mightyena.

"Um…heel?"

Mightyena charged at Ash with a Take Down at full power despite the risk of flinging itself off. Ash rolled to the side before he and Pikachu were forced to lie flat on their backs to avoid Houndoom's Flamethrower attack that nearly grazed their noses with the extremely hot temperature of the attack.

"Using fire attacks on top of an ice cream truck just feels…wrong," Ash remarked. Pikachu nodded in agreement. Ash reached for his belt, grabbing and enlarging a pokéball.

"Pikachu, I'm gonna need you to keep Mightyena off of Bayleef. Leave Houndoom up to Corphish." Ash released the pokéball and a red crustacean pokémon popped out to deliver a Bubblebeam at Houndoom. Ash used the attack for cover and slid over to the driver's side window to grab hold of the wheel and steer it back into the proper lane.

"Hey you little twerp!" Butch growled. He pulled Ash inside and delivered a kick to his midsection, sending him flying to the back of the truck. Cassidy took the wheel and steered the truck back into traffic, weaving in and out of the cars maneuvering out of the way of the speeding dairy mobile. Misty gritted her teeth as she guided Starmie over and around the diverting cars. Cassidy jerked the wheel for a sharp left turn, sending Butch and Ash tumbling to the side and whipping Misty into the path of an 18-wheeler.

'_Please let that be Optimus Prime,'_ Misty thought, wide-eyed from apprehension. Her hopes for a transformation seemed bleaker by the second once the truck driver slammed the brakes, sending the entire trailer skidding uncontrollably in her direction. A few cars were lucky enough to brake before the trailer skidded past them, the rest being knocked aside or in one case flattened; luckily the latter had been narrowly evacuated.

"Hydro Pump, Starmie!" Starmie's red core flashed brightly before he increased the pressure and force of his Water Gun. Misty and Starmie burst over the as it tumbled past, sending the cargo it was holding into the street. Misty glanced at the produce the delivery truck spilled.

The force of the high powered water attack sent the pair higher than planned. Starmie cut back to a normal watergun barely keeping them from crashing into a building's side. "Anytime now, Bayleef!"

"Bay, Bayleef!" (I'm trying, Misty!)

"Pi Pikachu, Pika!" (Keep your head down, Bayleef!)

Bayleef lowered her head just as a Hyper Beam sailed over. Pikachu ran at Mightyena with a Quick Attack before slamming the wolf Pokémon's face with an Iron Tail. Mightyena's stunned body slammed into Corphish, but the water-type had already used Harden multiple times to bolster his defense.

Houndoom breathed out another Flamethrower at Corphish, who simultaneously launched a Bubble Beam. The two attacks collided in midair, canceling each other out and leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke. Corphish eyed the smokescreen intently, searching for any indication of his opponent's next move.

A flicker of motion to the left turned into a Faint Attack, knocking Corphish into the air with a swipe of his left paw. Corphish tumbled through the air opening his left pincer wide, somehow managing to latch onto Houndoom's horns with a Vicegrip. Corphish's right claw began glowing with a soft blue light before he slammed Houndoom on the back with a Crabhammer...

* * *

Ash heard the sound of something large leaving a dent in the roof. He ducked to avoid Butch's right cross, only to be hit in the eye by his left. Ash stumbled backwards, steadying himself on the miniature console behind him.

'_I know I'm gonna feel that in the morning,'_ Ash thought painfully as he rubbed his face with the palm of his hand.

Butch cracked his knuckles. "I'm gonna enjoy this," he assured. He slowly walked towards Ash, only to receive a shoulder tackle to the gut for his hubris. Both of them crashed into the table bolted to the floor.

"Careful, you idiot!" What was the point of us leveling the Cerulean Gym if you destroy what we were sent to recover?" Cassidy yelled.

"You mean this thing on the table?"

Cassidy momentarily took her eyes off the road to see Ash pointing to the case from the Gym, and Butch lying on the floor with a large bump on his head.

"If this came from the Cerulean Gym, then it belongs to my friend," Ash affirmed. "I just thought it would be impolite to take it without telling you."

He grabbed the container off of the table and undid the locks on the back door. Before Cassidy could even protest, Mightyena and Houndoom came crashing down through the newly formed hole in the roof, courtesy of an Iron Tail/Crabhammer combination. Cassidy gritted her teeth, strained muscles holding back unpleasant verbal expressions of disdain. Ash smirked upon noticing Cassidy's evident fury. He returned Corphish to his pokéball and motioned for Pikachu to climb his shoulder before he opened both doors wide.

'_I probably should have considered the fact that I can't fly._' Ash gulped once his eyes focused on the speeding street beneath him. He hesitated, took a deep breath and jumped.

'_What was that idiot thinking?'_ Misty groaned. She released her grip on Bayleef's vines and gripped tightly on to Starmie's top spike with both hands before commanding another Hydro Pump to propel her towards Ash.

Ash reached out with his free hand and caught hold of a bus stop sign. Misty watched him spin wildly and extended an arm, catching him when he lost his grip on the slick metal, and gently dropping him on the sidewalk before making a small u-turn, coming to a splashy stop. Bayleef jumped from the roof of the truck before it crashed into a fire hydrant, sending a high-pressured jet of water into the air. Ash walked over to where Misty and Bayleef were standing, receiving a loving body slam from the large grass pokémon.

"Thanks for all your help, Bayleef."

"You too, Starmie." Misty added before both trainers recalled their pokémon.

"And thank you, Misty. Not sure what I would've done if you hadn't been there," Ash admitted. He extended his hand and Misty took it. Misty smiled and shrugged. By now, many people had pulled over and come out of various buildings to see what all commotion was about.

"I didn't have much of a choice. With you gone, I'd have no one argue with," Misty smiled and winked. Ash smiled back.

"Oh, that reminds me." Ash held up the container he confiscated from the ex-Rocket members. "I found this inside the truck with those fruitcakes, and they said they got it from your Gym."

"And we want it back!"

Ash and Misty turned towards the truck and locked eyes with Butch and Cassidy.

"We're not leaving empty-handed!" Cassidy declared. Ash glanced at Misty with a smile before turning back to the ragged-looking villains.

"Sure you can have the container back. We'll just have to settle for what's inside. Is that cool with you, Mist?" Misty grinned back.

"I'm sure we'll manage somehow, Ash," Misty confirmed before impish impulses convinced her to blow a raspberry at the crooks. The evil blonde clenched her fists and snarled.

"You wanna resort to shooting of your mouth, eh brat? Fine! I'll shoot something back at you!"

She stormed over to the console situated in the remains of the truck and flipped a switch. The giant cone swiftly rotated to face towards Misty, opening up to reveal a technologically advanced energy rifle. Cassidy licked her lips and smiled at the look of terror creeping onto Misty's face, savoring the moment briefly before pushing the classic big, red button. The weapons' coils began glowing red, concentrating in the cherry briefly before it fired a thin beam of red-colored energy at Misty.

'_C'mon, feet…move!'_ Misty thought desperately. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as fear and shock took control, rooting her in place. Just when it seemed as though she'd take the attack full blast, Ash shoved her out of the way, barely managing to roll out of the way himself. Seeing the imminent danger, the spectators chose to run for their lives. (A/N: Naturally, none of the background people stay to help the main characters.)

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Pi-cha!" (Hope your ready!) Pikachu shouted as he ran down Ash's outstretched hand, sending a surge of electrical energy at Cassidy and Butch. The Devastating Duo screamed, lightning coursing through their every nerve.

A bright flash of light from the computer console preceded the explosion of the controls. The force of the blast propelled the ex-Rockets high into the air.

"Looks like Team Devastation is blasting off for the first time!" They shouted in unison before shrinking from sight with a small twinkle in the distance.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief. His ears focused on the sound of machinery powering up; his eyes darted to the laser rifle glowing red.

"But I thought that—" Ash's sentence was muffled by the crackling of electricity.

'_Uh-oh…Pikachu's Thunderbolt must have given the laser a supercharge!'_ Ash barely had time to complete his thought before the laser cone tilted upwards, and fired an orange-colored beam more powerful than the previous shot into the hotel building beside Misty, cutting away chunks of cement.

"Misty!" Ash yelled desperately, but the water trainer was still trembling from the near-death experience that had passed not minutes ago. Ash sprinted towards her intent on pulling her out of the way, but the laser abruptly dropped down from overloading, and squeezed out the last of its power at him. Ash skidded to a stop; with no time to dodge, he picked up the lid of a nearby garbage can to use as a shield.

Ash 'felt' his arms go completely numb as the beam struck the lid, throwing him back out into the street. '_No, Misty!'_ Ash tried to reach out to her, but his arms could only respond to his commands with a tingling sensation. Misty had managed to rise to all fours, slowly crawling to safety, but there was no time left. Just as a large chunk of rock was about to crush her, a black blur enshrouded her, scrambling her orientation as she and her savior tumbled to safety.

The world reset itself once Misty realized that she was elevated in the arms of a familiar stranger. She tried to look into his eyes and find the reason for the sense of nostalgia, but the dark sunglasses he wore foiled any attempts to place him in her memories

"Thank you." Misty couldn't explain why the heat in her face was suddenly, and so strongly focusing on her now beet-red cheeks, or why she was no longer shaking, but brushed it off as feelings of gratitude.

Ash shakily stood on his feet after nearly falling on his face once he put weight in his Tentacool arms. '_I'm glad Misty's safe and all, but does she have to completely ignore me. And why is she staring? He can't be that interesting…can he?'_ Ash couldn't help grumbling at the lack of attention from his best friend. He suddenly felt extremely ashamed for his jealousy. The older teen lowered Misty to the ground and turned to leave, when Ash called out to him. The stranger turned to Ash with a surprised look on his face.

"I, um…well, thanks for saving her." Ash managed to say. The older teen smiled and nodded before running off to complete his agenda.

"I wonder who that was." Misty remarked as she approached.

"I don't know, but the girls and I ran into him on our way to your Gym."

Ash and Misty turned back towards the hotel to see Ritchie behind them with Lily quickly approaching with an annoyed look.

"Ritchie, Lily…so this is where you've been hiding out!" Misty exclaimed with a broad smile.

"What's going on, Misty? First you show up like, a week in advance with all your friends, which actually worked out for us because we didn't have to hire anybody, but bombs in the pool and lasers eating through the wall of our hotel go way too far! You are going to have, like, so much explaining to do once we get back home!" Lily shouted, hands on her hips and looking very pissed. Misty flinched at the force of her voice.

"Actually, I might as well explain here, seeing as there's no Gym to go back to." Lily stared blankly at her little sister. Misty cast her gaze at her shoes and scratched the back of her head.

"I was completely surrounded by Team Devastation grunts, and all I could do to escape was to bring the gym down on everybody," she explained. Lily's mouth flopped open slightly and her eyes started twitching. Ritchie waved a hand in front of her face.

"She's out of it," he confirmed. He put on a more serious expression.

"What happened to the others, Misty?" Ritchie inquired. "Did something happen to them?"

Misty's head shot up. "I forgot! Duplica rushed Casey and Melody to the hospital after they got hurt in the explosion!" This revelation sparked troubled thoughts in the two Pikachu trainers.

"This isn't good. If any Team Devastation members happen upon them, they'll be almost completely defenseless." Ritchie deduced.

"Cerulean city's pretty big, Ritchie." Ash pointed out. "That'll make it harder for all of us to find them."

Richie shook his head. "I wish it was like that. They must know that Duplica had to travel to the closest hospital. If they were followed, we have even less time. I'd better go after them. You guys make sure that Misty's sisters are ready and meet me at the southern end of Cerulean." He enlarged a pokéball and released Zippo.

"Wait, Richie! I'll come with you!" Ash struggled to reach for Pidgeot's pokéball resting on his belt.

"Sorry, Ash, but you'd only slow me down. You can barely reach for your pokéballs, and I'm sure that whatever you and Misty have just gone through must have worn out your pokémon." Ash and Misty's eyes became downcast at the truth in Ritchie's words. They both nodded, each grabbing hold of one of Lily's arms to help her inside. Ritchie mounted Zippo and flew off.

"Hey, Misty, do you think we have time to order room service? I'm starving." Misty sighed…

* * *

**A/N: I wanted to keep this chapter going a bit longer, but that would have gone past nine-thousand words, so...yeah. It's going ot stop here for now while I put the finishing touches on the next chapter.**


	12. Ch 11: Checking out

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any of its characters.**

_**Finally got this last section for Cerulean up. Hope you like how I end this segment, so I won't keep you any longer.  
**_

**Ch 11: Checking out**

_**Beep…Beep…Beep…**_

'_As if I didn't have a headache before…'_ Melody winked once before opening the eye not covered by tightly woven bandages. The fingers of her right hand massaged her sore head, tracing the wrappings darting across the middle of her forehead, extending to the top of her right cheek, and coming full circle over her ear.

…_**Beep…Beep…Beep…**_

The sound of a second heart monitor to the right reached Melody's ears. She tilted her head to investigate, silently cursing when her impaired vision proved an immediate hindrance. Figuring that turning her body in the direction of the sound was her only option, she made the appropriate motions to switch to lying on her side; an intense wave of pain in her left thigh convinced her that it wasn't the best course of action. She attempted to prop herself on her elbows to discern the origins of the pain, but her strength was gone, forcing her to settle for raising her head. She groaned aloud upon sight of the pulley system attached to the sling keeping her injured leg suspended above the bed, and in turn restricting her movement.

'_Darn it! What if there's a really cute guy in the bed next to me?'_ She pouted. The sound of a clock chiming came from Melody's left. She turned to see a small-scale grandfather clock resting on the nightstand next to a box of tissue.

The door to the room opened and a pair of green pigtails peeked through, followed by brown eyes and a smiling face.

"Oh, you're awake. I was starting to think you'd pull a Rip Van Winkle on me," Duplica joked. Despite the pain she was in, Melody managed to return a smile.

"I figured that I'd give my years of beauty sleep to someone in need of it more."

Duplica giggled, walking inside and shutting the door behind her. "Maybe you should have kept a few minutes for yourself," she teased.

Melody sighed. "Do I really look that bad?"

Duplica shook her head. "Nah, I'm just playing, Mel. You're no worse off than Casey."

"Where is Casey resting anyway?" Melody wondered. Duplica pointed to Melody's right.

"Normally they would have put her in the kid's ward, but since she was involved in the same accident situation, they put you both in the same room so the police could question you easier," Duplica explained. "I've got her pokéballs with me just in case she worries about that."

'_So much for there being a cute guy lying in the bed next to me. Oh well, I guess I could do worse for a roommate,_' Melody thought casually. "How badly is she hurt?"

Duplica focused her field of vision on Casey. The young trainer's forehead was bound tightly with cotton bandages and her right arm was in a sling. Underneath her hospital gown, extra thick bandages adorned her body from the waist up, extending over and around her right shoulder. Duplica picked up the chart at the foot of Casey's bed and read aloud.

"It says here that she has mild concussion and that she dislocated her right shoulder; probably when she hit the ground. The worst of her injuries are a badly bruised back and 4 broken ribs." Melody physically winced at the condition of her friend. "She took a hard hit from that Hitmontop, so I guess it shouldn't come as that big of a surprise, but it makes me wonder if she considered the risk she was taking." Duplica speculated.

"I'm sure she did. She may not look the part, but the kid's a tough cookie.," Melody affirmed.

"Who doesn't look the part?"

"Casey? How long have you been awake?" Duplica inquired with an insinuating expression.

"Since you walked in making all that racket. How's anybody supposed to get any sleep with the two of you yapping?" She whined. _'Not that the pain throbbing all over my body has any intention of letting me sleep,'_ Casey thought bitterly before a goofy grin covered her face. "Course, if you're talking about how you're going to pay me back for saving your life, Melody, you can take all the time you need to make sure that I get **exactly** what I deserve."

"What?" Melody cried out, clearly insulted. "Look here you little pipsqueak. The only reason I'm even sharing a room here with you is because I protected you after you lost consciousness!"

"The only reason I needed protecting in the first place is because I put my own safety aside to give you enough time to avoid going **splat**!" Casey shot back.

"Baseball Nut!"

"Prima Donna!"

"Take that back!" Melody demanded, unintentionally slamming her fist on the control switch for her bed. "OW!" She cried out, clutching her leg in pain after the sling supporting her leg dropped slightly.

"Ha, Ha—OW!" Casey clutched her sides with her good arm to quell the spasm of pain pulsing through her body.

"Duplica sweat dropped and put her palm to her face. "Are you guys gonna behave now?" She inquired while trying not to smile underneath her hand. Both girls nodded simultaneously with tears in the corners of their eyes.

"We'll be good," both girls agreed in unison.

"Good. I'm gonna see with the nurse at the front desk about when we can check you out of here." Duplica opened the door and stepped out of the room. Turning back around she added, "I'd suggest you two settle down and get some rest. Your IVs are running low." She smiled at their embarrassed faces before setting off.

An awkward silence passed between them.

"I'm sorry," they apologized at the same time. Against better judgment, Casey started giggling.

"OW!" She exclaimed as another wave of pain washed over her body.

"You okay?" Melody asked, voice full of concern for the younger girl.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Casey assured with a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "How about you?"

Melody sighed and stared up at the chalk-white ceiling. "I've been better," she assured.

Silence reigned again.

"Thanks, Mel," Casey broke the silence with a smile.

Melody turned and smiled in return. "No problem, squirt."

"Hey!" Casey protested, but her smile belayed her acceptance of the nickname.

The door to the room opened, and in stepped a tall, tanned man. He had short, auburn hair and dark brown eyes; wearing a stark white lab coat and flashing a pearly white smile at the two patients.

"Good afternoon, girls. Feeling better now, I hope." He seemed perplexed by the small grandfather clock situated on the table, but waved it off.

'_I knew my cute guy senses wouldn't fail me,'_ Melody thought with a blissful smile on her face.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Proctor," he greeted cheerfully. "I must say, you certainly look much better now than when your friend brought you in a few hours ago." Casey and Melody watched in silence as the doctor walked over to the bedside of the young baseball enthusiast.

"And what's your name, little miss?" He inquired.

"My name's Casey," she answered meekly.

"It's very nice to meet you, Casey. What do you say, think you can manage to sit up for me?"

Casey nodded slowly. After a few failed solo attempts, he gently supported her good shoulder until she could sit up comfortably on her own. The good doctor took out his stethoscope and undid the top ties on her hospital gown, revealing her heavily bandaged back.

"Good girl. Now I'm gonna need you to take deep breaths for me, all right?" Casey nodded, wincing a bit when the metal instrument touched her bruised back. She inhaled deeply before slowly letting the breath out again. A few more cycles of deep breathing later and the doctor removed the medical device with a satisfied hum.

"Well, Casey, it sounds as if everything's okay inside. With rib injuries, there's always a risk of punctured lungs, so that's quite a bit of good news," he explained with a grin. Casey stared at him stupefied, her mouth hanging open a bit.

'_Behind that face lies a terrible bedside manner. Should I ask to see his diploma?'_ Melody thought with a sweat-drop.

"Now I want you to take it easy while your body is recovering. Some of your most common habits will be painful for the next couple of weeks, so that means no strenuous activity, and you need to refrain from using your arm while it's healing. All in all, you should make a full recovery in about…4 to 6 weeks." The doctor finished diagnosing. Tiny waterfalls began flowing from Casey's eyes.

'_But I was supposed to go to baseball camp this summer!'_ she thought dejectedly.

The professional medicinal man awkwardly shifted away from the now ghostly pale trainer and approached his other patient.

"Saving the best for last?" Melody inquired with a nervous smile.

"I sure hope you can take it better than your friend." He glanced over at Casey and rubbed his eyes to dispel the image of her spirit rising towards a shaft of holy light. "Is she gonna be okay?"

Melody nodded. "Yeah, she just hates sitting still, that's all."

"Okay, now it's your turn…"

"Melody," she supplied. Dr. Proctor nodded. Picking up her chart at the foot of her bed, he quickly skimmed over it and took a deep breath, trying to figure the best way to relay the situation to his expectant patient.

"Lemme guess. You have good news, and bad news, right?" Melody interrupted. Dr. Proctor shook his head.

"I'll spare you that tired old cliché and simply address my concerns. Although the cut across your face missed direct contact, we later discovered that the pressure from the slice caused some of the blood vessels in your eye to burst and leak into the retina."

"Are you saying that I'll be completely blind in my right eye?" She choked.

"Complete blindness is highly unlikely in this case, but you may not regain your normal vision for quite some time, if at all."

"And my leg?" Melody questioned with a vacant expression. Dr. Proctor sighed and scratched his head apprehensively.

"It's too early to say at this point, but I'm a little concerned about the damage to your leg." Melody looked up at him expectantly. "I'll start off by saying that the surgery you underwent to remove the glass from your leg was a complete success. The glass severed some of the muscles in your leg, so it will take some time for it to heal. Throughout the healing process you must be very careful not to do anything strenuous or you'll wind up undoing what we've done in there. Of course you can expect it to be painful to move it about, but you should be able to put weight on it in a little over a month, with crutches of course. It shouldn't be more than three weeks of physical therapy after that for you to be running around with your friends again." He assured with a bright smile.

"Thank you, Doctor." Melody managed a smile, but she couldn't help being monotone when she replied.

Dr. Proctor nodded and turned to leave, figuring it was best to leave the girls with their own thoughts on the matter at hand.

'_I can handle being rejected by every Nurse Joy out there. In fact, it's become a tradition of transferring to a new hospital, followed shortly by extending an invitation for pizza, and brought to a close by inevitable denial. Unfortunately, no amount of studying at the most profound medical schools, can prepare you for the look on a sad girl's face when you're the bearer of bad news,'_ he thought with a sigh as he continued walking down the hallway, pausing when he saw a pair of officers approaching…

All words seemed to die in her throat the instant Casey tried to speak them. She clenched her bed sheet until her already pale knuckles could rival a Dewgong's icy coat.

'_This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't left my strike zone open. I finally had a chance to prove that I'm not just some little kid, and what do I do? I blow it at the bottom of the ninth,'_ she silently berated herself.

The increasing sobs of her roommate reached Melody's ears. "What's wrong, Casey? If you're hurting somewhere I can call a nurse."

Casey shook her head softly, momentarily forgetting about Melody's inability to see her. "I'm…so…sorry, Melody," she apologized between sobs.

"What do you have to be sorry for, Casey?" Melody wondered, clearly baffled by the young girl's words.

"For everything. The only reason you got hurt is because you tried to protect me," she hiccuped.

"Don't blame yourself for this, Casey. It was Butch and Cassidy's fault, not yours," Melody reasoned. Casey shook her head again, tears falling freely.

"But I couldn't do anything to stop them! It's because I'm not a good enough trainer. I should be in this room by myself." At this point she was now physically trembling.

Melody took a deep breath and smiled warmly. "Casey, look at me." The sorrow-filled trainer turned her head on command, managing to keep her sobs in control to give Melody a chance to speak.

"If by some chance you were the only one hurt in the accident, you wouldn't be here by yourself. You wouldn't be alone, because I would be here with you. I mean, come on. If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have made it." Melody's bright smile transformed into an embarrassed grin before she continued speaking to the distraught girl in the bed next to her. "I know I've been pretty mean to you, and I lose my patience easily with kids, but that doesn't mean I hate you, or think that you're in the way. This is a big job, and from what I've seen, you're a great trainer. We won't be able to get through this without you. So what do you say, start over?" Melody asked hopefully.

Casey wiped the tears out of her eyes and nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Good. Now use this. I can't see from here, but I bet your nose is running and that is really, really gross," Melody instructed, holding out a tissue she retrieved from the tabletop. She ignored the strange sensation of another living creature present.

Casey gingerly took the tissue and blew her nose in it. "Thanks, Melody."

"No prob. What are friends for?" Melody reminded. Casey smiled brightly as the sound of knuckles rapping against the door came from outside…

* * *

Duplica stood in front of the desk and waited for the Nurse stationed there to get the release forms ready.

"So all that's left is for you guys to finish questioning them, and then we can leave?" She inquired of the two officers who introduced themselves as Sam and Milton.

"That's right. After we collect some information, you and your friends are free to go back to your boarding school." Milton assured. "It's a shame that this had to happen on your field trip."

"We'll do everything in our power to bring these terrorists to justice!" Sam added.

"Thank you so much!" Duplica replied sincerely. '_These guys are so committed, I feel bad about not telling them the complete truth. I guess it can't be helped though, since we need to avoid as much attention as possible,'_ Duplica thought quietly, all the while maintaining her composure in front of her 'audience'.

"If you've already checked them out, Duplica, you may as well go and make sure they're all ready to leave. I put their clothes on the chair in there, and the deputies should have finished questioning them by the time you get there."

Duplica turned around to see Dr. Proctor walking her way. She turned towards the authority figures behind her, before turning back to the medical professional with a confused expression.

"What are you talking about?" She questioned curiously. "They just got here."

"Not them. I meant the deputies I met back when I was leaving the room," he explained.

"What did they look like?" She asked, a little too apprehensively to not earn suspicion from Sam and Milton.

"Their hats were pulled down low enough to shadow their faces, but I remember that the lanky man had short green hair, and the lovely lady had a beautiful golden-blonde hair."

"Anything else?"

"The woman did get my hopes up when she was playfully loosening my tie, but when I asked her out for pizza, she promptly said that she and her partner were going out on vacation to Viridian soon, so she had no time to play around. Now that I think about, she was far to pretty to waste her time in his company."

Without so much as a word, Duplica was already hurrying back to the room. Sensing something amiss, Sam and Milton followed soon after, leaving the confused Doctor to ponder what could be the matter. He realized with a start that the reason Duplica looked so fearful was because Casey and Melody could be in terrible trouble.

'_Nobody messes with my patients!'_ He reassured himself before dashing off…

* * *

The suspicious officers in question entered the room and shut the door behind them.

"It seems you girls have gone through a lot in the past couple of hours, haven't you." The woman asked casually.

"You have no idea," Melody concurred. "Everything from ruined parties, to bad guys whining because no one can get their name right."

"Maybe they have a good reason for getting upset. I know I wouldn't like it if people got my name wrong all the time," The second officer offered.

Casey shook her head. "Nah. It's happened so often, he should consider changing his name," she suggested. "Preferably one we can remember better than Bart."

"For the last time, MY NAME IS BUTCH!" The man shouted, giving away his identity in the process. His partner, now known to be Cassidy, sighed at his incompetence.

"Couldn't let it go this time, could you?"

"Easy for you to say. Not once has anyone ever gotten your name wrong," Butch pointed out.

Cassidy turned around and locked the door. "Focus on why we're here twit!"

"Why are you guys here?" Casey inquired.

"What have you done with our friends?" Melody demanded.

Cassidy smiled devilishly. "I'll skip the classic, 'come with us or you'll never see your friends again', bit and get right the point. Your friends have something that we want and you guys are the bartering tools," she explained.

"There's no way we'll help you guys get your hands on anything!" Casey proclaimed.

Butch chuckled. "Aw, isn't that precious? Maybe we should get out of here, Cass. Otherwise they might stop our fiendish plans," Butch mocked, obviously finding Casey's confidence despite her condition amusing.

Cassidy smirked. "Don't worry, Butch. No help can come from outside so long as I have that quack's card key. Poor fool probably doesn't even realize I swiped it from him earlier." Cassidy cocked her head back and cackled wickedly. "I'm afraid you girls don't have a choice. There's no one out there who can help you."

Butch walked over to Casey's bedside and pinched her cheeks, earning him a scowl from the incapacitated trainer. "And there isn't a Pokémon around for over fifty feet," he added.

Butch would have eaten his words had he been able to. However, that proved quite difficult once Duplica's second Ditto, Mini-Dit, wiggled out of the form of the small grandfather clock and attached itself to Butch's face. The short-tempered villain grabbed at the gooey pokémon, but its grip on his face proved greater than bubblegum on a shag rug.

Cassidy ran over to assist her partner when she heard someone fooling with the door. She whipped her head around in time to see Duplica thrust the door open, and Sam and Milton burst into the room before the authentic authority figures tackled the impostors to the ground.

"Nice work, Mini-Dit!" Duplica complemented her pokémon as the changeling made its way to Duplica's shoulder.

"Nice timing." Melody remarked gratefully.

"How'd you get in?" Cassidy asked in a muffled voice as she struggled against the weight and grip of Milton.

"Before I even realized that my key was gone, this young lady used her own," Dr. Proctor explained, gesturing towards Duplica. The Ditto Master opened her palm to reveal a card key, before it transformed back into her more experienced Ditto. "Speaking of which, I'm afraid I'll have to have my key back. Sorry, beautiful, but if were the key to my house it would be an entirely different matter, whereas this key is bound to policy," he informed Cassidy, calmly grabbing his key back from her hand.

Sam and Milton hauled their now handcuffed prisoners off of the floor.

"You may have us now, but you won't be getting away either," Butch informed them with a confident smirk. He pushed in the dial of his analog watch, causing a small beeping noise.

"What did you just do?" Milton demanded.

Cassidy smirked. "Within seconds, our forces will be all over this building. I told you girls that you'd have no choice in the matter."

'_Gee. I take a vacation for a week, and look where it gets me,' _Melody thought irately. Her attention shifted to Dr. Proctor carefully lowering her leg onto the bed. "What are you doing?" She asked him.

"There's no time to lose. We have to leave this room immediately," he explained before turning to Duplica. "I'm going to need you to go out into the hall and retrieve a gurney from one of the orderlies."

Duplica smiled. "My way's faster. Ditto, transform!" The pink pokémon wiggled as it jumped out of Duplica's hand and landed on the floor, turning into the desired medical table.

"Can't argue with the speedy delivery. Let's get a move on."

"Right," Duplica nodded.

Together they cautiously helped Casey and Melody onto the improvised stretcher.

"We'll stay here with the culprits and trap their accomplices when they come. Doctor, we'll need you to contact security and get as many men as you can to come to this floor," Milton instructed. Dr. Proctor nodded in compliance and began pushing the girls out of the room. Duplica grabbed their clothes off the chair, stuffed them in a nearby bag, and quickly followed after.

"That last minute plan won't be enough to stop us," Butch assured as he was positioned onto the now vacant bed.

"We still have the element of surprise," Sam reminded.

Cassidy grinned wickedly. "I guess it isn't your fault if your superiors haven't filled you boys in on who you're up against."

"The fact of the matter is, we're the terrorist group responsible for the attacks on the League. We've already attacked three cities and completely decimated Pallet Town, so we must possess incredible technology and a large number of forces. Do you really think it's unnatural for my companion to have audio transmitters located in her earrings?" Butch hinted. Sam and Milton's eyes zoomed in on Cassidy's innocent-looking earrings.

"Guilty, I'm afraid," Cassidy smiled without a hint of remorse.

Sam hurriedly pulled out his walkie-talkie and Milton desperately grabbed for the evil woman's tattle-telling jewelry, but Cassidy kicked off of his chest and landed on the bed next to Butch. She raised the heel of her boot, and out popped a small pellet that rolled in the officers' direction before releasing a yellow haze. Both Sam and Milton blinked heavily, finding it harder to open their eyes with each succession; before long, both were sound asleep on the floor.

"Well that was easy," Butch remarked. He put his back to Cassidy's and she pulled a lock pick out of his glove. With a bit of effort, both pairs of handcuffs fell uselessly onto the bed.

"Ready?" Cassidy inquired.

"After you," Butch offered with a smirk. They ditched their disguises and ran out the door in hot pursuit…

* * *

"That was very resourceful, Duplica," Dr. Proctor complemented as they all loaded onto an elevator.

"What was?" she wondered, pressing the elevator button for four floors up.

"You had your pokémon stand guard unknown to even the hospital staff. You also didn't hesitate to have your Ditto transform into a key upon discovering that the door was locked."

Duplica blushed. "Oh, that. Well, it was nothing really," she humbly replied.

"Someone's blushing!" Casey teased.

"Quit being so modest, Duplica. You really came through for us back there," Melody agreed.

The elevator stopped with a shudder, doors opening wide with a forewarning creak. The odd party of patients and practitioner stepped past the threshold and into a proactive hallway.

"I agree with them, Duplica. Just because you were expecting trouble, doesn't mean that your actions were any less impressive."

Duplica looked up at him with a look of surprise. He returned a knowing smile as he pushed the dolly along the corridor.

"Stop me if I'm wrong, but would it be safe to assume you've run into them before now?"

"Congratulations! You've just won the prize for understatement of the year!" Casey exclaimed.

"What I don't get is, why you didn't tell the police if you're in some kind of trouble?"

"We're trying to keep a low profile. Once those two report to the rest of Team Devastation that we're still alive, they won't stop until they're sure that we won't be a problem," Duplica explained with a crestfallen expression.

"**Still** alive? Surely you're not suggesting that—"

"We were in Pallet Town when they blew it off the map," Melody interrupted. "They knew we were there then, too." She turned to face Duplica. "That's why we need to get out of here and meet up with Ash and Misty. We can't afford to sit and wait for them to catch us!"

"Ash and Misty, huh? Trainer with a Pikachu and a spirited red-head?"

All three girls looked at Dr. Proctor, waiting for him to reveal his reason for knowing their friends.

"The two of them and their friend helped me back at my old hospital when I was short-staffed. Together we took care of all the injured pokémon involved in a terrible car accident," he reminisced. "All of them are good kids, and I saw a lot of myself in that Brock, kid."

The girls sweat-dropped at this disturbing comment, not sure whether he was talking about the flirting, or the dependability. Behind them, the elevator chimed as the doors opened.

"That's them over there!"

Casey glanced behind them and saw something that made her cry out.

"Um, guys…we have some unwanted company!"

The others looked back to see the familiar 'D' adorning both uniforms of the Team Devastation grunts quickly approaching.

"I think a change of Venue would be a good idea!" Duplica suggested, to which she received a unanimous agreement. They clumsily maneuvered around the surrounding Doctors and Nurses whom, to their credit, managed to not be knocked down in our heroes haste. The pursuing grunts were far less merciful, knocking down anybody unfortunate to be in the vicinity.

"Duplica, get your friends to an empty room and escape when the coast is clear," Dr. Proctor ordered. "I'll slow them down."

"You're no match for them!" Duplica protested. "These guys are playing for keeps!"

"That may be, but your friends are still my patients. If I don't protect you now, not only will I fail at my responsibilities as a Doctor, I'll lose my chance at harassing any of the Nurse Joys because I'll be taking care of three patients."

Duplica nodded, trembling concealing her comprehension of his desire to protect them. "Good Luck!" Duplica wished before turning back and pushing her friends as fast as her shaking legs would allow.

Dr. Proctor watched them turn the corner safely. "It's been a while since I went into surgery without relying on backup," he mused as he took out a scalpel. "Hopefully I won't be sued for malpractice."

The Devastation grunts didn't take two steps before the good Doctor tackled them to the ground…

* * *

Why am I so anxious?

Ritchie couldn't identify the apprehensive feeling building up inside his chest. Of course he was worried about the conditions of his friends, and he was hoping that they weren't being held captive, but he couldn't understand why he was especially concerned about Casey.

_'She's been reckless and immature since I met her. It's like I have a little sister,'_ he thought. The little light bulb in his head flashed. It was only natural for someone who's like a little sister to you to weigh heavily on your mind when there's danger involved. Feeling satisfied that he'd found the reason he'd been looking for, Ritchie re-focused on the task at hand.

He gazed down at the surrounding buildings beneath him, scoping their titles until he found the cluster he was looking for. He guided Zippo down towards the ground, hoping that he had found the correct place. He noted the commotion, and asked one of the orderlies what was going on, but the man ignored him and went about his business. Ritchie started to make a remark about questionable hiring procedures, when he noticed that the most of the people running around had the trade markings of Team Devastation. He was running out of time…

* * *

Duplica peeked through the crack of the door to see three more grunts run by. She closed the door to avoid detection, turning back to her friends with a grim look. "So much for, pressing all the up buttons on the elevator and getting off at the first stop to throw them off."

"We're trapped!" Casey panicked.

"Not like it matters," Melody objected. "Even if we managed to get out of this room without being seen, I don't think we'd get away wearing hospital gowns and wandering the halls."

"What did they do with our clothes, Duplica?" Casey wondered.

"Dr. Proctor set your clothes in the room, and I have them right here," Duplica replied, indicating the bag she had set at the foot of the bed her friends were sitting on. "I have all of Casey's clothes right here, but they had to cut Melody out of her jeans to avoid making the damage to her leg worse."

"So you're saying I have no pants?" Melody asked crossly, puffing her cheeks a bit from the awkward news.

"Calm down, Mel. I already took that into the account, and the hospital was generous enough to donate one of their spare knee-length skirts for you to wear," Duplica assured.

Melody looked far from thrilled with the revelation. "Great, now I can blend in with the staff and just walk on out of here," she sighed.

"Melody, you're a genius!" Duplica exclaimed. "That's exactly how we're going to get out of here!"

Melody cocked her eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Duplica merely smiled in response and walked back over to the door. She opened it slightly and peeked outside. Deeming it safe, Duplica swiftly slipped outside before either Melody or Casey could protest. She made her way down the hall, hugging the wall tightly as she approached her target. She barely managed to dart into the room she was aiming for before a pair of Devastation grunts stalked around the corner.

"You got to hand it to the staff around here," one of them, an older gentleman in his late forties, remarked.

His partner, a young girl seemingly in her early twenties nodded in agreement. "We haven't been very stealthy or even quiet for that matter, but they're still going about their business per usual."

They passed a door as it was opening, only revealing another nurse pushing an empty wheelchair. Suspicion dropped immediately and the two minions paid her no further mind, continuing on their way. The nurse hesitated, as if she were afraid of attention being called to her. Once the mercenaries were around the corner, she walked down the hospital wing until she came to a seemingly random room. She swiped the card key, pushed the door open, and stepped inside trailing the wheelchair after her.

"So this is what you meant," Melody smirked at her friend's change of attire.

"To hide a tree, use a forest." Duplica replied with a coy smile.

"But won't it be kind of risky to make the two trips between us?" Casey pointed out.

Duplica smiled at the young trainer. "Don't worry. I have it all planned out," she assured, her smile making her friends increasingly uneasy as it became more incriminating…

* * *

"Hello. I was wondering if you could tell me if two girls were admitted here after an accident at the Cerulean Gym?" Ritchie asked of the Nurse at the ground-floor front desk. The plump nurse rolled her chair over to the recent files and thumbed through them. After a brief search, she eventually found a match and rolled back over to him.

"It looks like we did have a pair girls treated for injuries earlier today," she reported. "They should have finished undergoing questioning by the police soon."

"Thank goodness. What room are they in? I really need to talk to them," Ritchie pleaded.

"I'm sorry, young man, but only immediate family may see them, and I've been informed that both of their families are overseas."

Ritchie grew frustrated, that is until he realized he did have one more chance. "But Melody is my girlfriend! Can't you make an exception?"

The Nurse looked at him strangely, as if trying to place the odds that he was being truthful.

'_Who am I kidding? Nobody would believe such thing,'_ Ritchie grimaced.

"Well, normally I wouldn't do this, but I'm sure she could benefit from your visit. Plus I've always been a sucker for young love," she smiled warmly. "You'll find them on the fifth floor in room twenty-four."

Ritchie nodded. "Thank you, ma'am." He headed of to the nearest elevator and impatiently waited for the door to open. In his haste, he didn't realize that he pushed the ninth floor button by mistake…

* * *

"This is never going to work," Melody whispered, finding it difficult to breathe because of her noticeably larger midsection.

"Relax, Mel. This plan is foolproof," Duplica assured. She checked to make sure that her new ponytail was secure and that her Mini-Dit identification tag was in place. She adjusted her new glasses one final time before she felt that everything was in order. "You okay in there, Casey?"

"It's hot under here," came a muffled voice from under the blanket draped across Melody's lower half.

Duplica ignored her friend's complaints, knowing very well that there weren't many options available. She surveyed the sights in front of her, deeming the coast as clear, and began pushing her friend's down towards the elevator nearest to the front door on the ground floor. Her heels clicked as they passed a few members of the hospital staff that appeared to be on break, judging by the various coffee products in their hands.

"Did you hear? One of the recent transfers got beaten up a little while ago," one of the orderlies relayed to the others. Duplica tensed up a bit as it dawned on her of whom they were talking about.

"Yeah, I heard. It turns out some suspicious-looking people were wandering the halls and tried attacking his patients. I saw someone call for security, but the line must have been busy or something since they didn't answer."

"So he got hurt defending his patients, huh? How noble," one of the new interns swooned. Her eyes became glossy as she imagined seeing his acts of heroism.

One of the other interns chuckled. "Actually, he got out of that scuffle with only a black eye before they got away from him. He got beaten up by the Nurse tending to him, who could have sworn he was reaching out to stroke her butt."

"Turns out he was only reaching in that direction because she had dropped her handkerchief," the first one finished. This earned quite a bit of laughter at Dr. Proctor's expense.

Though silently reprimanding him for being easily accused of inappropriate actions -though this time was an honest mistake- the girls breathed a sigh of relief for his safety. They managed to make it to the elevator undetected and waited briefly for the elevator to reach their floor. Duplica rolled them inside and pressed the button for the ground floor, breathing smoothly for the first time in what felt like hours. The door shuddered after dropping to the next floor down, opening up to reveal five menacing-looking security guards. At least, they appeared to be security guards until they saw the signature blood red 'D' through the imitation uniforms they wore.

"What are you doing here? You should have already gotten word that this floor is closed for inspection," one of the grunts yelled. She looked to be in her late forties, crystal blue eyes peeking from behind short brunette locks and piercing through Duplica's skull. A quick scan of her companion's expressions revealed that she was undoubtedly in charge.

"I don't have a choice!" Duplica reasoned. "This girl is going into labor!"

Perfectly on cue, Melody began moaning about the excruciating pain she was in. The woman's gaze did not soften. She looked suspiciously at Melody's midsection, trying to decide if it was possible to have that many babies at once.

"And why can you not take her to another floor?"

"She has a serious blood condition! The office of the specialist delivering for her is on this floor, and so are all his preparations! We can't just go to another floor!" Duplica pleaded.

The woman's scowl remained present, but she stepped aside to let our heroines pass without resistance.

"That was some great acting, Duplica!" Melody whispered once they were out of earshot.

Duplica smiled. "This is something I make a career out of," she pointed out. "You're the one with the great timing, partner. The agony you expressed was really convincing."

Melody blushed. "It ought have been. Casey kicked my leg."

"Sorry, Melody," Casey apologized. "My foot was falling asleep."

They walked in general silence, spirits easing a bit as the elevator came into sight. They heard the sounds of multiple footsteps rapidly approaching, and craned their necks to see the same group of thugs, with the addition of the two that escaped from Dr. Proctor, hot on their heels. Or rather, they were right on Duplica's heels. This proved to be a ineffective aspect to her disguise when she stepped wrong and fell out of them, sending Melody and Casey careening towards the wall. Melody grasped both brakes, the sudden stop nearly throwing Casey off had she not already been crossing her legs around Melody. Just as it seemed as though one of the larger grunts would snatch up Duplica, a cart of medical supplies plowed into him. Duplica turned to see who had rescued her, and saw and exhausted looking Ritchie panting heavily.

"Do you have any idea what I've gone through to find you three?" He inquired between breaths. His answer had to wait seeing as the rest of the enemy was still coming. He threw a pokéball forward and released Sparky, ordering a Thunder Wave that effectively paralyzed them before they could get any closer. Ritchie ran over to help Duplica to her feet, feeling the tug from Sparky's paws gripping his clothing as the small, yellow rodent ascended to his hat.

Ritchie heard something crackle from static and turned his head to see that the fearsome woman was contacting someone via walkie-talkie. A small movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned to see the man he knocked over earlier brandishing an ax he must have pulled from the fire safety supply on the wall. Ritchie pulled Duplica closer and fell backwards to avoid being cut in two. Sparky came to the rescue, pressing his tail to the man's leg and delivering a Thunderbolt that shocked the man until he fell unconscious, clothes smoking from the electrical burns. Ritchie pulled Duplica and himself off the floor again and they ran over to where Casey and Melody were sitting next to the elevator, before slamming his fist on the down button. The transport module chimed twice and the doors opened with a creak, revealing a new slew of Devastation grunts.

Ritchie impulsively shoulder tackled one of the men trying to exit, feeling a pang of guilt when one of the more petite women was slightly crushed by the man's bulk.

'_They're the bad guys,' _he silently berated himself. '_This is no time to feel sorry for any of them.'_ He forced his way inside the group and pushed the door close button, waiting until it was about half way closed before smashing his fist against the emergency stop button. Ritchie began squeezing his way through the tight gap, earning a numbing blow to the back of the head that nearly rendered him immobile. Just as he crossed the threshold, a strong arm grabbed the collar of his shirt and started reeling him back towards the door. Ritchie struggled against the assailant's grip, feeling his own grip on the floor weakening, as he was pulled closer with each strain of muscle. Taking the first action that came to mind, Duplica grabbed hold of the attacker's arm and bit down as forcefully as her jaws could manage. The grunt howled in pain and released his grip, giving our heroes a small chance at escape.

Duplica grabbed hold of the wheelchair and they raced down the vacated hallway to approach the next elevator, but a wave of grunts appeared on both sides of them. Knowing that they wouldn't have time to wait, Ritchie threw open the door to the stairs and closed it behind them, having Sparky seal the door with a Thunderbolt. Before they could even think about descending the stairs, a handful of D-grunts were already approaching from below. Duplica took Casey into her arms while Ritchie took Melody in his, barely giving Melody a chance to grab the bag that held their stuff in it. Ritchie paused momentarily to kick the now empty wheelchair down the stairs, effectively tripping up the enemy. They hurried up the steps, trying to focus on their own steps rather than those of the enemy.

"Melody! Right beside your hand is a pokéball. I'm gonna need you to throw it behind us and order a Takedown!"

Melody nodded, gingerly grasping the pokéball she retrieved from his belt. She dropped it as he instructed, catching it once again as the release of the lavender shell pokémon propelled it back to her.

"Takedown?"

Ritchie's Pupitar, Cruz, glared at the enemy before slamming full force into the closest D-grunt, probably cracking a few of the man's ribs as he was knocked back into his comrades. Melody held up the pokéball and called him back with a smile.

"That was fun! Are there any more of them?" Melody giggled. Ritchie smiled at her enthusiasm.

"Actually it looks like we've reached the roof," he observed. He managed to turn the handle and open the door. The sun was still high in the sky, despite the seemingly long escapade they had just endured. "I'm kind of short on fliers, Duplica. Can you handle this one?"

Duplica scratched her chin in contemplation, before a very mischievous grin covered her face. "Sure, but this time, we're doing it my way."

The citizens of Cerulean City were rewarded for the disturbances today, when they witnessed the form of a giant, silver bird depart from the rooftop of a nearby hospital, heading towards the southern end of town…

* * *

"Think Ritchie found them yet?" Ash inquired as they were riding in the Waterflower's red convertible on the overpass going south.

Misty shook herself out of her daydream. "What did you say?"

Before Ash had a chance to answer, the giant form of a Lugia landed next to them and spread its wing out next in front of them, forcing Daisy to hit the brakes.

"Get on!"

Our heroes looked up to see Ritchie and Duplica waving at them. Daisy exchanged questioning looks with her baby sister before driving up the wing of the artificial Lugia. They parked the car on the middle of Lugia's back before Misty undid her seat belt and ran to her friends.

"Casey! Melody! I was so worried!" Misty cried as she approached them. "Are you both okay?"

"Ask us tomorrow, will ya?" Melody yawned before nodding off next to Casey.

Misty smiled, calling over her sisters and Ash to help their injured friends to the car to rest. Once everyone was settled, Ditto/Lugia spread its wings and started flying off in the direction of the boarding school where they all agreed to meet.

"To think, we left behind, like, our entire wardrobe," Daisy grimaced.

"Those were some of the best outfits in, like, the entire world," Violet agreed.

"Speak for yourself," Misty objected. "That pink monstrosity that Melody wore was the best-looking outfit I left there."

"I don't know, Misty." Ash countered. "I thought you looked very nice in that when you wore it in that one play."

Misty blushed in embarrassment before realizing a problem with what he just said. "What are you talking about? The only time I wore that was when…" Ash gulped.

"Um, excuse me," he politely bowed before releasing Pidgeot and climbing on her back.

"Wait a second, now I remember!" Misty yelled. "You took all my of clothes except that one and shrank them in the wash! I had to wear that all day in public when we went shopping!" She waved her fists in the air and shouted for him to come back, but he was already out of earshot.

"He'll be in, like, so much trouble when she gets her hands on him," Lily predicted. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement as Cerulean got smaller in the distance behind them…

* * *

Wahooo! It took about what, 3 months, but I'm finally done writing about Cerulean for awhile (And I thought it took a long time for them to get to Vermillion for the first time.) I'm telling everyone who reads this now, that I'm taking a small break from this story to work on others. Namely, Sokka's Stubborn Streak, Napu's Purpose, and an Inuyasha fic that I don't have title for yet. So I hope you guys have enjoyed this so far, because it will probably take some time before I can update this again. (I'm running out of notebooks.)


	13. Ch 12: School of Hard Knocks

**A/N: Big, Big apologies for such a long delay. I won't make excuses, but now that my work schedule has opened I should be able to update more frequently.**

** CH 12: ****School of hard knocks gets knocked hard**

_Hours ago, at around 7:00 a.m.…_

"I hope they manage to wake up Ash on time," Delia sighed. "That boy can sleep through a herd of rampaging Donphan." Delia smiled wryly as she turned her attention to the rearview mirror. The reflection showed Mr. Mime sleeping next to Gary in the back seat of the jeep Professor Oak had kept underground. and the budding researcher appeared very focused on whatever was in his hands.

"What are you doing back there, Gary?" Delia asked curiously. Gary looked up from his pokédex.

"Researching pokémon types. I figured that preparing now would be better than getting attacked later without any strategy," he replied.

Samuel nodded his head as he watched the road, reassured in their actions by his grandson's levelheadedness.

Gary continued, "I figured that knowing which powers would be helpful now would save me some frustration later."

Professor Oak sighed. _'Why do I even bother?'_ He thought to himself. "Gary, I hope I haven't given you the wrong impression?"

"Are we talking about my impression or yours?"

The jeep was slowed to a stop. Samuel turned to his grandson with a stern look on his face. "Gary, I know that you're angry about what happened, and I sympathize, I really do." Gary's gaze remained on his grandfather, as if insisting that he explain himself. "This isn't a situation we should involve ourselves in anymore than what is absolutely necessary. I'm already ashamed of myself for involving you kids in my past transgressions, and the only way I can try to set things right is to get my research into the hands of Lance and the rest of the league and leave it to them."

Gary matched his grandfather's stare. "This isn't something you involved us in- they did! We can't just pass this responsibility away to somebody else and carry on as if nothing has happened!"

Samuel was taken aback. He turned back to the wheel and stepped on the pedal to get them moving again. He felt a hand upon his shoulder and saw Delia giving him a reassuring smile.

"This whole thing has been a series of nightmares, but we'll get through this if we remember the most important thing: A family is stronger together than it is apart."

Samuel nodded. "You're right, Delia. I'll try and keep that in mind."

With different opinions, the quartet continued forward, united by their hopes that reaching their destination will solve their problems…

* * *

_9:00 a.m.…_

Professor Cedar leaned back in his chair, careful not to get his lab coat caught beneath the chair again, and tapped his fingers in a steady rhythm on his cherry wood desk. He dragged the fingers of his other hand through his messy brown hair and sighed. The only proof to the passage of time was the constant ticking of the clock above; the only proof that he hadn't died of boredom was the stale taste of chalk in the air with each breath he took. His intense gaze all but willed the telephone to ring with an expected update of Professor Oak's location. He had been surprised to hear from the man who had set him on his career in studying Pokémon, but enthusiasm was put asunder when Samuel had told him that he would be coming for his "project".

Jared Cedar had been the top student back when Samuel had taught at the Pokémon Technical Institution, earning him the privilege as Professor Oak's first aide and sole confidant in the school who knew what Samuel had been trying to achieve in the scientific community, and that the research for sharing the potential of pokémon with humans on a genetic level was located here as well.

He fingered the key to the cabinet the research was locked in, anxiously awaiting some word that the Professor was approaching soon and would be here in time for Jared to enjoy the summer break the kids and other faculty members had already left for.

"Professor?"

Jared turned around and was surprised to see a student from the lecture hall next to his own. He'd heard that beneath her brown, wavy hair, and behind her curious, brown eyes housed an intellect with a promising future ahead. Now if only he could remember her name.

"What are you still doing here?" Jared asked. "You were supposed to be on the bus back home."

The girl blushed with embarrassment. "I, uh…I had an upset stomach and got stuck in the bathroom," she admitted. "By the time I got out, all the buses had left, including the one that had my stuff. I came back inside to see if any teachers were still here, and here I am asking for a ride to the train station."

Professor Cedar sighed. '_If she's a possible candidate for valedictorian, then perhaps those complaints about the curriculum slipping weren't without basis.'_

He turned back to the phone, but it failed to ring despite his wishes, much to his disappointment. '_What should I do now?' He thought anxiously. 'I need to make sure that Samuel gets his research files, but his last call hinted that someone was trying to get his research first, by any means necessary. I don't think it's safe to get any of the students involved.'_

The girl looked on in silence as the Professor's attention repeatedly shifted between the phone and her. "Um…if you're waiting for an important call, I can try and catch a ride from those guys down the hall."

Jared yawned. He was more tired than he realized. "Oh, so there's someone else here as well?"

The girl shrugged. "Members of some club, I think. They both had the same blue uniform with a large red 'D' on their shirts."

Professor Cedar was on his feet in an instant. He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her directly in the eye. "Where were they? Did you see any others on your way inside?" He realized by the look on her face that his grasp what painful, but his desire for answers took precedence over his guilt.

"They're about two hallways down on the first right. I didn't see anyone else," she gasped.

Jared released his grip and fished out a small bundle of keys. Finding the correct one, he moved to his desk and proceeded to unlock the topmost drawer. He ignored the scowl being aimed at the back of his head and took out a small box.

The girl watched as he opened the box and pulled out a lure ball, the apricorn pokéball best suited for catching water pokémon. "What's that for?"

He shuffled past her without a word and entered the hallway. Confused by his sudden change in demeanor, she tried to follow him, but he turned and blocked her path with his arm.

"Those guys you saw are dangerous criminals," he explained. "You'll be a lot safer in here." Before she could point out that two-on-two were better odds, Professor Cedar pulled the door closed and turned the key to the left to lock it from the inside as well. She saw that the inner lock had been activated and banged on the door, demanding to be let out, but he was already gone. Feeling defeated, she leaned back against the door. Deciding that she was not content with just waiting, she pulled out a pokéball.

'_Hope they don't raise my tuition for this,_' she thought.

Jared moved down the hallway as quickly, and quietly, as he possibly could. '_Darn it, I wasn't expecting them so soon!'_ He thought anxiously. Despite being a full-time teacher, Professor Cedar still managed to hit the gym regularly. However, he still found his shirt soaked with sweat less than a minute after he'd left his classroom.

He hadn't passed three corridors before he saw the troublemaking pair trying to subtly open the door of the teacher's lounge. That is, if having a Machamp tearing the door off, frame and all could be called subtle.

Professor Cedar took a deep breath to gather his nerves. "Stop right there!"

The two Devastation grunts, having been completely unaware of Jared's presence, turned to identify the source of the interference. The owner of the Machamp turned to his companion.

"Is this the guy we're looking for?"

The other man nodded. "Must be. The only other bio-signal we detected belonged to the brat that passed by earlier." They both turned back to the Professor.

"I'm sure you know what will happen if you don't cooperate," the first one hinted and gestured towards his Machamp.

"My partner and I have different plans," Professor Cedar replied with a calm, even tone.

Both Devastation grunts looked around in confusion, neither able to see anyone else in the vicinity. Professor Cedar responded to their bewildered facial expressions by throwing his Lure ball forward to release his growling Feraligator.

"Meet my trusty lab assistant and league partner."

Without an order or signal, Jared's Feraligator charged forward and locked fingers with the enemy fighting type's lower arms.

Unable to stand the sight of the alligator pokémon matching his powerhouse in a contest of strength, the Devastation grunt ordered a Cross Chop. On cue, the Machamp's upper arms began glowing.

Showing their battle experience, Feraligator released his grip and pivoted on his right foot to slam his tail into the Machamp's side before the attack could connect, sending it crashing into the wall.

The Devastation grunt gazed lividly Jared. "Why you…"

His partner silenced him with a sharp whistle next to his ear.. "It seems as though we may have underestimated you, but you will cooperate." The grunt made his intentions clear with the toss of a pokéball, releasing an impressive looking Electabuzz.

Jared tensed up. He knew that the opponent had a major type advantage. He looked his partner in the eye and knew that they were thinking the same thing: A few years out of the league circuit meant that this wouldn't be an easy fight.

While his focus was completely absorbed on his new adversary's next move, neither Jared nor his Feraligator noticed that Machamp had already recovered until he had already moved behind the unsuspecting water pokémon. Machamp's four arms ensnared Feraligator and made him completely immobile.

"Electabuzz! Use Thunder on that Feraligator!"

The antennas on top of Electabuzz's head began to glow brilliantly before it sent a wave of deadly electricity at both his partner and foe.

Just before contact was made, a trail beneath the floor tiles led straight to Feraligator and burst out of the ground to take the attack. A small explosion from the attack brought up a smokescreen, concealing the status of the pokémon. As it cleared the first thing that could be seen was the bulky shadow of whatever had intercepted the attack.

Jared felt a small hand on his shoulder and turned to see the student he could have sworn he'd left locked in inside his classroom.

"I'll help you shop for a new door later, but right now I think we'd better focus on the battle."

A bit taken aback by the situation change, Professor Cedar looked back at the increasing visible battle zone and saw that it had been a Graveler who had shielded his Feraligator from harm.

"We really appreciate the help, but I can't have you getting in my way," He stated. "If Feraligator is to bring out his full power, I can't have you and your Graveler getting involved."

The student smirked. "Don't worry about us," she assured. "I've trained my Graveler to be highly resistant to water."

Professor Cedar chuckled. Now he had no excuse not to let the student battle. "I guess I'll settle for telling you that I expect you to take notes on our battle skills because they might be on the final exam."

The student smiled back. "I'll have to make do with the cliff notes version; I doubt you'll be able to keep up with us."

Both sides stared each other down and waited for the bell…

* * *

_Around 11:30 p.m.…_

The grass crumpled beneath Gary's footsteps. He put a hand to block out the sun's rays and took in the sight of the enormous building in front of him. The sound of car doors closing behind him brought him out of his stupor. Delia and Professor Oak approached on either side of Gary. Mr. Mime was still sleeping, so Delia resigned to let him keep watch.

"After all that fog rolled in, I was afraid we wouldn't find our way out," Delia admitted.

Samuel smiled smugly. "And I found our way here without asking for directions once."

Delia smiled mischievously and place a hand upon Samuel's shoulder. "Who would you ask, Samuel? A tree?"

Professor Oak raised his hands in the air and surrendered the round.

"Can we go inside already?" Gary asked. "I want to see what we came for and I really need a bathroom."

Professor Oak nodded. He had avoided as many rest stops as he possibly could, even on the back roads. There was no telling where the next Team Devastation assailant would come from, and the less people they interacted with, the better.

Gary finished washing his hands in the sink and splashed his face with the cold water. The conversation with his grandfather was still fresh in his mind, and it still troubled him that his own grandfather was trying to run away from all of this. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and splashed more water in his face before he grabbed for the roll of paper towels.

Delia waited patiently for Gary to exit the restroom. She noticed the look of confusion on Gary's face and quickly explained that per Delia's suggestion, Samuel had gone to the registration office to find where he needed to go.

"That man has a brilliant mind for Pokémon, but he can't keep track of anything."

Gary nodded his head in agreement. He remembered all of the times his grandfather had misplaced the TV remote and where they found it later. Delia grabbed his sleeve, shaking him out of memory number thirty-seven.

"C'mon, Slowpoke," Delia chided. "Ash and the others aren't here yet so we might as well look around a bit." Gary followed silently and let Delia guide him with her gentle pull.

Just before they rounded the first corner, Professor Oak appeared before them with an amused look on his face.

"That sly Vulpix," Professor Oak chuckled. "Jared didn't tell me he had moved into my old classroom."

"Maybe he wanted it to be a surprise." Delia suggested.

They walked for about fifteen minutes before arriving at flight of stairs leading to the second floor. After what seemed to be an endless supply of steps they arrived at the top and gasped in shock at what they saw. The entire hallway was full of more holes than a valley full of Diglett's. Professor Oak wasted no more time in running towards Professor Cedar's classroom.

Delia and Gary weren't far behind, careful to avoid stepping in one of the many craters in the floor, until they passed a seemingly random door. Something about it drew Gary's attention and he stopped to approach it with Samuel and Delia none the wiser. He slowly crept towards the door, careful not to make a sound. Almost as though it was trying to intensify his curiosity, the sound of something or someone shifting behind the door reached his ears. He pulled a pokéball from his belt and grabbed the knob, slowly turning it to pull the door open.

Inside what turned out to be a broom closet was a small form cowering in the back and whimpering.

"Hey are-" Gary's words were cut short when a mop found its way to his mouth in a violent manner. Delia noticed the commotion coming from behind them and signaled for Samuel to come back. She approached the closet, completely ignoring Gary and his desperate attempts to clear his air passage, and put a hand to her mouth when she saw the sight of a girl covered in blood. Delia's maternal instincts took over and her acute eyes began darting over every inch of the girl's bloodstained clothing checking for wounds.

"Where are you hurt, dear?" Delia asked when she couldn't find any obvious injuries. The girl shook her head from side to side, sending her red-stained brown locks of hair flying in every direction.

"It's not my blood," she affirmed. A frightening image flashed before her eyes, causing her to grasp her elbows in effort to stop her uncontrollable shaking. "Professor…" She whispered inaudibly, and tears began flowing from her eyes, blurring her vision. She blinked away the tears, but the memories of this morning wouldn't be dispelled as easily. The traumatized girl felt rather than saw a pair of strong arms wrap around her and pull her into an embracing hug. Delia rested her chin on top of the girl's head and stroked her back.

"Shh…it's okay now," Delia soothed. "I don't know what you've been through, but you're safe now. I won't let anybody hurt you, I promise."

The girl let Delia's securing embrace help stop her trembling. The gagging and coughing coming from Gary halted the touching scene, and it was obvious that Delia wasn't pleased with this form of expression.

"Gary!' Delia berated. "I expected a lot more maturity from you!"

Gary looked at her incredulously and pointed to the mop that he had freed from his mouth before it was digested. "I wasn't trying to be funny!" Gary defended. "Those were signs of life, or did you not see the mop that was shoved down my wind pipe?"

Delia looked down at the now pink face of the girl she was embracing, waiting for an explanation.

"Sorry." the girl squeaked out.

The sound of footsteps echoed from further down the hallway, growing louder until Professor Oak was standing beside them. In his hands was the bloody lab coat once belonging to Professor Cedar; a graduation gift received from Professor Oak himself.

Delia's fingers traced her open mouth as though she were trying to push back the question she probably already knew the answer to. Samuel gripped the coat even tighter and tried to speak, but every word he tried to speak was weighted down by guilt and sadness.

Samuel took notice of the girl taking refuge in Delia's arms for the first time and saw that she was holding her arm out to him. In her hand was a pair of keys dangling from a silver chain.

"He wanted you to have this." Samuel took a look at the literal key to his research before he walked forward and grabbed it with a wordless acceptance.

"Where do we go from here?" Gary wondered out loud.

"All the files I have are kept in the basement," Samuel explained. "It won't take me too long so I'll meet you all back at the car. Is that all right with you, um…"

Realizing that introductions still hadn't been carried out, the girl slowly rose on shaky legs and politely held out her hand. "My name is Giselle. I'm a student at this school," she said with a humble tone. "Would it be okay if I cleaned myself up first?"

"How about if I take to Giselle and Gary to go get cleaned up first?" Delia suggested.

Gary shrugged. "If it's all the same to you, I think I've had enough clean with my teeth having had an extra scrub. A whole new door of clean has been opened to me and I think I'll skip my next shower in favor of lying naked in the street and waiting for the street sweeper to come."

Delia chose to ignore his sour, though slightly reasonable behavior. "Will you keep an eye out for Ash and the others?"

Gary didn't respond, but did wave behind his head. Delia decided that was the best she could get and turned back to Giselle.

"Now where's the nearest shower, dear?"

Giselle snapped back to attention and looked up at Delia's expectant face. "It's downstairs and to the left."

All three of them descended the stairs before splitting up, all agreeing to meet back at the car when they were finished.

Gary positioned himself on the hood of the jeep and leaned back against the window. Continuing from where he left off, he switched on his pokédex and began narrowing down the list of appropriate types he felt would aid in their cause.

_It's not our problem…_

Gary shut down his pokédex with a frustrated snarl loud enough to wake up Mr. Mime. He couldn't understand how his Grandpa could just walk away from everything. These terrorists destroyed their homes and endangered the lives of their friends and family.

'_Everyone's already involved and we're going to need to cooperate with and gather any allies we can find,'_ Gary decided.

A sudden realization made him sigh. "Crud. I just shot down my own decision and turned myself into a hypocrite in matter of seconds." Gary looked at his watch. "And it's a new record." Gary snatched up his bag that he'd left in the car and started walking back to the school.

Giselle closed her eyes and let the warm water gently patter against her face. She ran her fingers through her hair and relished the renewed absence of dried blood clumping the strands together. Opening her eyes with a sigh, she watched the bloody water flowing down the drain and wished that her bad memories could disappear as easily.

'_It wasn't your fault, so stop blaming yourself,'_ Giselle scolded herself._ 'Those other guys came out of nowhere and caught you both by surprise. Both of your pokémon had a weakness to their ice types, and that other one…'_

Giselle shuddered at the memory of the last pokémon she'd seen. With any luck she wouldn't be battling one of those anytime soon.

'_But why did Professor Cedar sacrifice himself to save me?'_

The question weighing the most prominently on her conscience was going to be the toughest burden for Giselle to resolve. The cold water came without forewarning and she shrieked, her self-interrogation melting away in contrast to the freezing water that was spraying her. She quickly turned the water off and grabbed hold of a towel that had been left there to her great fortune, wrapping it tightly around her body before exiting the shower with splashy steps.

'_I wish I had something else to put on_,' she thought dejectedly. She walked over to the bench where she had laid her ruined uniform only to find herself puzzled when she discovered it was no longer where she had left it. She turned around just in time to see Delia walking in carrying a bundle of something in her arms.

"Gary came by few minutes ago and dropped these off for you," Delia explained before Giselle had a chance to ask. "He said you needed them more than he did."

Delia handed the bundle of clothes to Giselle, which consisted of a short-sleeved purple shirt, a pair of brown cargo pants, and even a pair of blue boxers. A thankful grin appeared on Giselle's face before it steadily grew into a serene smile. Delia left the locker room with a smile of her own and decided to head back to the car.

_Tick…Tick…Tick…_

Gary was busy leaning against the wall, watching the second hand keeping track of how slow time was passing. With each "tick" he felt his eyes growing a bit heavier, only barely noticing that the clock seemed to be climbing higher up the wall. The sound of a door opening made his eyes flutter open. Standing in the doorway was a freshly clothed Giselle, who despite wearing the clothes from someone built solid from years of travel, was still filling the apparel more than either teen had anticipated.

With squishy steps coming from the gym shoes she'd left in her locker with the intention of changing out after summer break, Giselle slowly approached Gary's position on the floor.

"Um…"

"So…"

They paused, trying to give the other a chance to continue. Gary politely motioned for her to go first. Giselle nodded with a grateful smile.

"I wanted to say thank you for the clothes…and I that I'm sincerely sorry for what I did to you earlier," Giselle finished her apology with a humble bow.

"Sure, no problem," Gary responded without a moment's hesitation.

"Oh…okay." He either didn't notice or didn't care that her feelings had been hurt when he brushed aside both her gratitude and apology. He got up off the floor and dusted his pants before he started walking down the hall. Gary glanced back over his shoulder and saw that she wasn't following.

"C'mon. We're meeting everyone outside now," he told her. Giselle nodded quietly. Her footsteps echoed his as they continued walking down the hallway.

Delia heard a vehicle approaching before she could actually see the truck. Though a bit crestfallen that she had to wait a bit longer before seeing her son, she gave a bright smile large enough for Brock to see from where he was. Brock is family to her after all, and Delia has come to appreciate the time they can spend together now more than ever.

With a sputter from the engine and a whining from the brakes, Brock parked the van next to Professor Oak's jeep. Delia got there just as Brock and Todd were closing the doors behind them.

"Brock, Todd, I'm glad to see you're both okay." Said Delia. She embraced them both tightly until they were ear to ear. Before she had a chance to ask, Brock held up his hand to stop her and smiled painfully.

"I couldn't find my parents; the house and Gym were completely destroyed by the time we got there."

"Oh, Brock, I'm so sorry." Delia hadn't had the chance to meet Flint and Lola Slate, but judging by the way Brock turned out, they were fair and kind people who didn't deserve to have this happen to them. Though, none of them deserved this.

"But I do have some good news," Brock continued. He motioned for Delia to follow him and led her to the side of the van. Delia traced Brock's footprints expectantly, her expression changing from one of anticipation to one of elation. Inside the van lay Tracey and Joy, both covered by a blanket made from Brock's brothers and sisters. Delia's eyes widened to better receive the sight in front of her.

"Oh my, Brock. You've mentioned your family before, but to see them all at once…"

Brock laughed heartily. "Yeah, I've go through the same thing every time I've gone back home."

"Has everyone already arrived, Ms. Ketchum?" Todd inquired.

Delia shook her head. "No, and I'm starting to get worried. Samuel has already started looking for his files and will meet us out here soon." Delia sighed and focused on the cool breeze blowing through her hair.

Without warning, the wind became increasingly turbulent, easily kicking up clouds of dust and forcing everyone to shield their eyes. A large shadow cast a blanket of darkness before concentrating into a shape resembling that of an aircraft. Everyone looked up to see a giant silver shape descending into the clear grove behind the parked vehicles.

"Hey, everybody!"

Delia smiled wide and ran forward; her arms opened wide to receive her son and she engulfed him in the same large hug saved for when he returns from a journey.

"Too tight, Mom!" Ash gasped. Pikachu lowered his head and put his hands together as if saying a prayer for his trainer.

Three more descended from the pseudo-Lugia before it slowly shrank beneath the Waterflowers' car.

"Misty, Ritchie, Duplica!" Brock greeted.

Duplica stooped down to check on Ditto. "Are you okay, Ditto?"

"Ditto" (I'm not ready to be Cosby's next flavor of jello just yet.)

She thanked the transforming pokémon before returning him to his pokéball for some much deserved rest. "How's it going, Brock?" Duplica returned. "Did everyone make it back safely?"

Brock nodded. It looked like he wanted to ask something, but he made no attempt. Having known him for over three years, Misty was well aware of what Brock was trying to ask.

"We're all okay, Brock," Misty assured. "Casey and Melody got banged up a bit, but we were able to get to my sisters in time and escape." She looked back at the car and sighed when she saw that they were fast asleep.

Brock felt the relief wash over him. He hadn't realized how worried he had been until Misty assured them that everyone was okay.

"Casey! Melody!" Delia shrieked. Misty, Ritchie and Duplica all flinched as if they had been caught doing something wrong. They turned around and Delia standing beside the Waterflowers' convertible with a horror-stricken expression on her face. It was obvious that Ash hadn't had a chance to prepare his mother for what she had seen.

Brock and Todd rushed over to see what happened, unaware of the others trailing slowly behind. They managed to keep themselves more composed, but it was still noticeable by their facial expressions that seeing their friends this badly injured was a shock to them.

"Are you two okay?"

Casey and Melody kept their heads lowered as if ashamed of being caught in their current condition. "Yeah," Melody sighed.

"We're fine," Casey agreed.

Delia was far from convinced. "Ash Ketchum, I want a full explanation!"

Ritchie turned to Duplica and cupped his hand next to her ear. "I'm glad she doesn't know us that well," he whispered. "I'd hate to have her mad at us."

An experienced parent complete with super ears, Delia turned to the other members of the Cerulean team. "If you have anything to add, Ritchie or you, Duplica, I would value your input as well."

"Big mouth!" Duplica hissed at Ritchie.

Ash swallowed bigger than a Gulpin. "I told you already, Mom. We ran into some trouble." He looked down and tried really hard to find an interest in the shoes he'd worn for the past year.

The vein appearing on Delia's forehead looked ready to burst. " A little trouble shouldn't involve your friends being hurt so severely, Ash!"

Misty slowly raised her hand to speak. "Don't be mad at Ash, Ms. Ketchum," she spoke meekly. "He wasn't being careless."

Delia took a deep breath. She didn't want to lose her temper in front of the kids, and Misty's subdued defense told her that she was closer than she would have liked to be. "I wasn't trying to blame Ash for what happened, but we both know he attracts trouble."

Misty nodded her head in agreement. "Tell me about it. Ash has attracted enough trouble for five life times."

Ash looked at Misty with a shocked expression. "Weren't you supposed to be defending me?"

"Sometimes winning is knowing when to admit **you're** wrong." Misty turned back to Delia. "The real reason Melody and Casey were hurt was because I got in over my head. If everyone hadn't stepped in when they did, the gym would have collapsed while everyone was still inside."

Brock's mouth flopped open. "They destroyed your gym?"

Misty blushed. "Actually, I did, but I'll talk about that later." Delia listened intently as Misty explained the details of what took place in Cerulean City, unaware that some of the more dangerous situations were being omitted.

The practiced mother once again looked at the condition of Casey and Melody. On closer inspection, she noticed that everyone looked a bit roughed up. "Samuel is absolutely right! This whole situation is far to dangerous for us to be involving ourselves in!"

"We're already involved!" Everyone turned around to see Gary approaching with a girl not far behind.

Delia was a bit taken aback by Gary's forceful tone, but she tried not to show it. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Gary, but I agree with Samuel. We've done more than enough already."

Gary stared Delia in the eye, neither of them willing to back down. The silent tension was broken by Professor Oak's voice on the P.A., telling them to come to the cafeteria.

"Sounds good to me.," Ash remarked.

"Pika Pikachu," (Me too,) Pikachu agreed.

Misty sighed. "Don't tell me you're already hungry again, Ash."

Ash, Misty, Brock and Todd immediately started walking towards the school. Delia was right behind her son. Giselle hesitated. She looked back at Gary, waiting to see if he was coming along.

"Go on ahead. I'll keep watch out here." Gary told her. If not for his tone, she might have stayed, but she too headed for the school. Gary waited for everybody to disappear inside before he moved over to the Waterflower's car. "I know it's not fair for me to ask, but do you two think that we should run away from everything?"

Melody shrugged. "Don't know. Even if I never see Team Devastation again, I'm still not going to perform in this years chosen one festival."

"No baseball camp for me either," Casey chipped in.

"Ash and I can't go home anymore. Why can't my Grandpa see that we need to fight back before they become too much for us to handle?" Gary asked.

Melody sank back in her seat but didn't say anything. Casey sighed and looked down at her shoes. "I think they are too much for us to handle. Team Rocket was never this bad."

Gary clenched his fists. He wanted to shout at them for being cowards, but he felt intense shame for even considering it. Casey was still a kid and Melody wasn't even a trainer; and yet both stood up to fight, and both paid a hefty price. Deep down, Gary knew that what they were saying was right, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this was their responsibility.

It was at least a half hour before everyone exited the school and started coming back to the cars. Giselle approached the passenger side of the Waterflower's car where Melody was sitting, holding a pair of aluminum crutches.

"Um…Misty said that you had hurt your leg, so I went and picked these up from the nurse's office."

Melody took the crutches from Giselle's hands and gave the new girl a thankful smile. "Thanks, Giselle. Gary told me that you go to this school."

Giselle nodded. She was happy that everyone was receiving her well. Ash, Brock and Misty had recognized her almost right away and expressed their happiness of seeing her again. All of their friends seemed nice enough as well.

"So, how are we getting to Vermillion?" Gary asked. "We're short on car space and Vermillion is on our suspicious list so flying in isn't a very good idea."

Giselle shifted uncomfortably. "Actually we'll have just enough room if we use Professor Cedar's car. That's what the other key on the chain was for." She grew silent after she said this.

Gary fell in step with the uncomfortable silence. He supposed the subject of Professor Cedar was directly related to the tender memory of whatever she had gone through before they had gotten there. He was about to apologize when his Grandfather called out to him.

"Gary, come on!" Professor Oak waved for his grandson to come to where he parked Professor Cedar's jeep.

He'd left his car for Delia to transport Mr. Mime, Ash, Richie and Giselle. Duplica was busy carefully helping Melody and Casey into the back seat before getting in herself. Misty was all set riding in her sister's car, though Daisy's driving was still a bit wild. Gary shocked everyone when he walked over to where Ritchie was about to climb in and asked to switch rides.

"Sure I don't mind, but why?" Ritchie asked.

"My Grandpa and I don't see eye to eye right now, and us shouting at each other won't be good for the girls," Gary explained.

Giselle turned away from Gary as he was getting in. She had been looking forward to getting to know Ritchie; she was already satisfied with what she knew about Gary's attitude. Or maybe she was still feeling hurt from earlier.

They started pulling out of the front gates with Professor Oak taking the lead and Delia following last. Gary looked at the passing scenery. He realized that he never found out what their next move was going to be, but surmised that it still involved traveling to Vermillion City…

* * *

**A/N: So how was that? It feels like I'm out of practice so reviews would be greatly appreciated...**


	14. Ch 13: Behind the Misdeeds

Wow, it's been a while since my last update. Here's a look at some of things going on with the bad guys to show what Ash and the gang are dealing with. It'll be back to our heroes in the next chapter. Enjoy and review please!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or its characters.**

**Ch 14: Behind the Misdeeds**

The electronic lock flashed green and clicked before a pair of steel doors opened to reveal Butch and Cassidy. The echo of the empty hallway only amplified the aura of failure as they walked through the restricted sector to report the latest events. Reporting in person also meant that they were being cheated out of a free lunch.

Plausible reasons for their results in Cerulean passed through their heads, but none would satisfy the boss and both of them knew that. Professor Namba was knowledgeable about many things in this world –Pokémon, genetics and mechanics to name a few– but he'd never bothered to learn the meaning of forgiveness. He was only vaguely aware that it was opposite his nature.

Before they knew it, they had already reached the end of the corridor. Cassidy hesitantly reached for the intercom button when the double doors disappeared into the wall causing Cassidy and her partner to jump back.

"Well?" A tempered voice barked from inside. Butch and Cassidy hurried inside to avoid making him angrier –if that was possible. The doors closed behind them with a low whistle, startling them despite them being used to it. The two waited patiently, but Namba hadn't acknowledged their presence yet. Awkward silence passed in the silver tech room –the only noise coming from Butch's nervous breaths and Professor Namba's furious typing.

"Put the sample over there!"

Butch followed the path of Namba's outstretched finger pointing towards a waist-height metal cylinder in the middle of the room. With the push of a button, the glass half rose into the ceiling to make room for contents of the parcel retrieved from the Gym –except neither Butch nor Cassidy was in possession of the parcel. The awkward silence resumed as neither Devastation Elite was keen on being the one to admit they failed.

"What's the hold up?" For the first time since they'd arrived, Namba turned around to face them. The evil genius glared fiercely, causing the two to shrink back slightly. Since usurping control of Team Rocket resources and using them to construct his own team, Namba had gone threw a few changes. He was even more impatient if such a thing was possible. The dark circles that came from constant sleepless nights constantly haunted his beady eyes. The pink hair surrounding his baldhead was showing signs of gray because he no longer bothered to re-dye his hair. But this wasn't the part that made Butch and Cassidy so apprehensive around him. No, it was when he seemed almost compassionate that he was preparing an unpleasant experience for you. Fortunately, there was no trace of understanding for their blunder.

"Imbeciles! I gave you a simple task and you failed!" The blood rushed to the evil scientists head as he yelled until his face was the same shade of pink as his hair. "Do you have any idea how important the contents of that parcel are for my research? Not only did it contain a sample of crystallized Pokérus, but also it contained one of eight keys needed to unlock the vault in the underground of Silph Co.!" His shouting echoed in the room, further emphasized by the silence of his agents.

"Where is it?" He finally asked. Butch and Cassidy exchanged a nervous glance; neither was excited about telling him what happened. Remembering that Cassidy had explained their last failure, Butch cleared his throat and began explaining the events that transpired in Cerulean.

"So it was those meddling kids again." Professor Namba stood and walked towards his wall of monitors. Though the data displayed was directly tied to his research, and therefore carefully calculated to avoid complications in the future, they couldn't take into account the interference from those same brats. His thoughts went back to all the times Butch and Cassidy's failures had hinged on the involvement of those kids.

Too many times…

The plan had been to grab Oak and eliminate those brats in one encounter to prevent them from being able to retaliate. Obviously, only half of the mission requirements had been met. Archer had already been severely punished for his attempt to bring those brats alive, but at least he managed to verify that when separated they proved less of a threat. More thought would have to be put into eliminating those brats once and for all, but for now there were more important matters to attend to.

"Do you know the location of, Oak?" Namba's gaze suddenly fell on the blonde Devastation elite; Cassidy stuttered something about Vermillion before falling silent again. Dr. Namba's brow furrowed at this revelation. As far as he knew, there was nothing of great importance in Vermillion. Perhaps he held some clue they had overlooked about Lt. Surge's mysterious disappearance? Namba stroked his coarse beard, analyzing every scenario that could be running through Professor Oak's mind.

Then it came to him.

It was so obvious that Namba could only conclude that his brilliant mind had instinctively ruled out anything that didn't need a genius I.Q.

"Butch, I'll give you two a chance to redeem yourselves."

Butch and Cassidy left his presence feeling what could only be described as a mixture of relief and dread. They'd escaped his wrath this time, but Namba would not be forgiving should they fail again.

"I can't believe he's assigning us such a routine mission," Butch remarked. "That's even more surprising than him getting my name right."

"I told you that nametag would be a good idea," said Cassidy, referring to the large rectangle pinned to his uniform. "We should count ourselves lucky that he's giving us another chance. Jessie and James screwed up big-time, and no one's seen or heard from them since."

"I say good riddance," Butch spat. "They were absolutely no help in Hoenn."

Cassidy shrugged in mute agreement. It had been a simple plan, really. The first step, and trickiest, had been calling the Hoenn champion, Wallace, to a place where he could be abducted. Arousing his interest to anything outside of Pokémon contests was no simple feat, but by utilizing his friendship with Devon Co.'s Steven Stone and inviting Steven on an excavation trip where fire type pokémon frequently attack, Wallace was sure to come to assist Steven with his powerful water pokémon.

Of course, all of the members hosting the excavation had ties to Team Devastation, whether they were on payroll or investors. As the Champion, not only did Wallace possess powerful pokémon, but he also carried with him the official seal he used to give his approval of league activities. Once Team Devastation had their hands on that seal, the Elite Four were easy to manipulate. While preparations for a grand scale tournament would mostly be left to the league committee, Wallace's seal ensured that the Elite Four would be present for the event.

The tournament would benefit all trainers whether they were attempting the league challenge or aiming for the Grand Festival. The winner would be given either automatic entry into the next Pokémon League challenge or grand Festival, regardless of the number badges and ribbons they had collected. Adding to the already irresistible prize was the offer of undergoing a training camp hosted by the Elite Four for the top four trainers as well tutelage for the top four coordinators from the Pokémon Champion Wallace –a world famous Coordinator title that complemented his Champion status.

Even without one of their own increasing media attention on the tournament, the turnout of talented or cocky trainers and coordinators would have been undoubtedly the same. Unfortunately for all those that showed up, the only prizes were awarded to Team Devastation in the form of well-trained Pokémon. Some of them had been easily acquired during health checks while others had theirs stolen while they were fast asleep.

However, some of the trainers became got wise to the scam and staged an immediate revolt. To maintain covertness as well as test out Namba's new mind control devices, prior to the start of the tournament, an already subjected Wallace had issued the members of the Elite Four bracelets identical to the one he was wearing. When activated, they proved more efficient than the one he used on Lugia, no longer requiring anger to make control easier. Although they were still aware of what was going on, they couldn't stop themselves from ordering their pokémon to crush the mass of assembled trainers with their superior power.

Despite facing insurmountable odds, one coordinator refused to back down. She managed to rally the other trainers and keep them together with the help of another talented coordinator. Her compliance was quickly secured however, once they took her brother hostage. Within a matter of days, Team Devastation was in possession of the region's most powerful trainers and their Pokémon, as well as the pokémon of the most experienced trainers and coordinators in Hoenn. All of this had happened in complete secrecy, so the reason behind their discovery by the Kanto League remained a mystery, though some speculated that Jessie and James had leaked the information.

"At least we got a good haul," Butch remarked. Cassidy nodded.

"Four Elites, a Champion, not to mention a some promising test subjects and their well-trained pokémon. That Steven is no slouch, either."

"I haven't seen a Pokémon that strong since watching Giovanni," Butch agreed.

Before they knew it, the duo was already passing through the corridor that overlooked the Research and Development department. Peering through the window, they could see Team Devastation scientists working on the battle armor worn by Archer's strike force.

Although armor was near invulnerable to all but the most powerful Pokémon attacks, a human being was quickly pushed to his physical and mental limits. Those that made up the bulk of Archer's strike force were somehow able to utilize the suit at a higher power setting with little to no visible sign of strain. Archer's ability to maintain the suit's full power with no visible side effects was remarkable, and undoubtedly the reason why Namba put up with his occasional deviation from plan.

In the next room, a large team of engineers was doing tests on a large robotic hand roughly the size of a Snorlax's. A couple of them were standing in front of a computer screen where numerous cables could be seen extending from the monitor and connecting to the robotic limb. As one of them began typing on the keyboard, the index finger began twitching in response to the commands it was being given. Assuming the testing and construction remained on schedule, they could begin to have these units mass-produced to enforce their control within the year.

These were only a few of technological advantages that Team Devastation had at its disposal. Adding the plentiful amount of financial benefactors to the equation, and Team Devastation had a recipe for what few even dared rto dream.

Total control of the world was only a stones throw away….

* * *

Not as long as some of my other chapters, but I didn't wanna give everything away, and I mostly wanted to explain how Hoenn was taken over so quickly. The next chapter is in my notebook so hopefully it won't take too long for me to have it up as well. Any comments on my writing style would be greatly appreciated. I've been steadily changing my format to make it easier on my readers and I'd like to know if it's going over well.


	15. Ch 14: Why Hire a Professional?

**Author's Notes: What a surprise, I'm not dead. You know the drill. Gotta figure out where everyone's heading to. Gotta give you guys things to notice and questions to ask. Next chapter has to be typed up and afterward I should be able to get the next chapter of, "Sokka's Stubborn Streak" out. That one's long overdue for an update. Let me know what you think. Constructive criticism will only help me improve.**

Why Hire a Professional?

'We're cheap, we're skilled and we're available,' Gary thought bitterly. Try as he might, he couldn't think of a slogan that would convince his Grandfather that they weren't done with Team Devastation. He could understand Professor Oak wanting to spare them from further danger, but Gary knew that safety wasn't his main concern.

Gary wanted revenge, plain and simple.

Team Devastation had attacked his friends and family and uprooted them all from the world they'd grown up in. No, there was no reason they shouldn't receive the justice they deserved. If only he could make his Grandfather understand that.

"Finally!" Ash's voice called out next to him. The young researcher looked up and sure enough, the port city of the infamous S.S. Anne cruise ship was visible on the horizon.

Both Delia and Daisy were traveling close behind Professor Oak's jeep. Brock, who made it through traffic first, was already well into the city to secure them some rooms at a hotel. Despite Joy's insistence that the Pokémon Center would be able to house them all, Professor Oak had insisted that it wasn't safe yet. Team Devastation might still be intent on capturing them, and a hotel on the perimeter of the city would be safer in the event a quick escape would be necessary.

As it was, the run down motel they pulled up in front of was as close to the city limits as Brock could find. Gary shouldered his bag and walked into the office's lobby. The stale odor immediately filled his nostrils and made him gag – the putrid smell was enough to make a Muk pass out. He plugged his nose and let out a sigh.

"We're cheaper that I thought."

Ash stood quietly and watched Gary throw his stuff in the back of Professor Cedar's jeep. Professor Oak had decided to leave Delia the keys to his own jeep. Professor Oak let out a sigh as he followed his grandson's image in the rearview mirror. When Gary had volunteered to see off Tracey and Melody, Samuel had thought it would be an opportunity to reconcile, but after overhearing Gary telling Ash his plans he knew that it was something that needed more time.

His eyes consciously moved to Tracey in the passenger seat. It was a bit troubling to not see his assistant sketching - hours could go by without him so much as twitching save for the pencil in his hand. His sudden desire to return to the Orange Islands was surprise to Samuel until he remembered that Tracey had mentioned relatives residing there. Tracey never went into detail and Professor Oak never pried.

The final passenger was even quieter if such a thing was possible, but her near-death experience in Cerulean City more than justified her stoic expression. Samuel silently prayed that returning home would prevent Melody from slipping deeper into post-traumatic depression, as well as provide her with a safer place to undergo rehabilitation for her injuries.

As he turned the key to start the car, Samuel's eyes locked on Ash's. In all the time he'd known him, Samuel had never been disappointed by Ash's growth. Every challenge that came his way was met with courage and determination - but this was different. No matter how brave or skilled Ash was, this ordeal wasn't something he should be burdened with.

For as long as Ash had known him, Professor Oak had never seemed as old as when he pulled out of the parking lot...

"I hope Lily and Violet will be okay with Brock." Misty sighed in remorse at having given Brock more kids to look after. Daisy smiled as she watched her sister's forlorn expression before returning a watchful eye on the traffic-filled road. With all the threats of terrorist attacks, it was no wonder that many families were hoping to take refuge in one of Kanto's largest and most technologically advanced cities. The person whom they were going to go see only added to the safety factor.

"Relax, Misty. Violet is actually good with kids sometimes," Daisy assured. "And Lily could like, totally use the stimulating environment to get over the shock of losing the Gym."

Misty groaned. Daisy was never going to let her forget, even if she had a perfectly reasonable excuse - any teenager with a rampaging Gyarados could have done it. And speaking of destroyed Gyms...

"Any ideas on what might have happened, Todd?" The young photographer was too busy scrutinizing the photos he'd taken of the Vermillion Gym to respond. It had been his idea to check for clues before they'd arrived in Vermillion City. Duplica and Misty had agreed to go with him and Daisy was looking for an excuse to get behind the wheel anyway.

The Gym showed signs of taking attack from hostile Pokémon. Scorch marks coated the outside while the ground was uneven and even uprooted in some places - like something had tried punching holes from beneath the earth's crust. Eyewitness accounts reported a commotion coming from the Gym ending with a bright flash of light and the sound of a roaring engine. What was thought to be an intense battle turned into a mystery when a trainer went to challenge Lt. Surge and found the front tower of the Gym was gone without a trace.

As Todd brought the picture closer to his face, a hand belonging to a very annoyed water Pokémon trainer blocked his view.

"Something I can help you with, Misty?" He asked as innocently as he could.

"I've been trying to get your attention for almost five minutes," Misty griped. "I wanted to know if you figured out what might have happened."

Todd stared at Misty's hand and pretended to contemplate. "Well, unless a giant hand came and took away the Gym's tower, I think you're just gonna have to wait until we see Sabrina." To Todd's surprise, Misty faced the front without a word. Unsure of what caused said reaction, he slumped back in his seat. The sudden movement caused Duplica to yawn and slowly open her eyes.

"Are we there yet?"

Before Todd had a chance to respond, Duplica's eyes were already closed and her soft snores resumed. The car hit a bump in the road, causing Duplica to lean over and rest her head on Todd's shoulder. He felt his face heat up with each time her warm breath hit his neck. Figuring it couldn't hurt to stay that way, he eased up and let himself enjoy the moment.

"Alright, Joy," the young nurse-in-training addressed herself. "All you have to do is calmly walk inside, find your cousin, clear up any misunderstanding and get on with your life."

It was a simple plan, really. After turning on her phone to see if she had any missed calls, Joy found an e-mail her mother had sent congratulating her on passing her exam. In all the excitement with the carnival and the kidnapping, she'd forgotten to tell her family that she hadn't met their expectations. The message included an apology for not being able to celebrate with her properly, but if she checked into a nearby Pokémon Center, she could pick up something she was going to need.

The only problem being that she hadn't earned it.

Joy took another deep breath. Despite her brilliant plan for revealing her failure, she was no closer to the door than she had been a minute ago. A group of young trainers stepped through the sliding glass doors, some pausing to glance at the troubled woman before going on their way. It was enough to make determined to get it over with, so she anxiously walked inside. Though normally comforting, the interior of the lobby made her a bit somber - this is what she worked so hard for.

"Oh, long time no see," a voice greeted. "I'm glad that you were able to make it here safely."

Joy quickly wiped away the traces of tears before turning to face the counter. She came face to face with her mirror image belonging to her second-cousin on her mother's side.

"There's someone here who will be excited to meet you," the Nurse Joy chirped.

With a defeated moan, Casey finally accepted that the only thing airing on TV was highlights of what happened back in Cerulean City. albeit, not once was the name Team Devastation mentioned in any of the reports. It might be because no one had confirmed that they were involved, or it might even be the League's decision to avoid causing a panic. Casey felt the edge of the bed sink in as Ms. Ketchum sat beside her.

"How're you feeling, sweetie?" Delia asked with a gentle smile. Casey was thankful that Ms. Ketchum was there, but too many things had happened for her to feel like smiling.

"Still sore, still bored," she replied sullenly. "Nothing really hurts if I don't move."

Delia gave Casey's hand a sympathetic squeeze. Now that there adventures were over, time seemed to be dragging its heels. With so many of them left homeless and trying to contact family, the loneliness became increasingly noticeable. Casey especially was becoming more withdrawn since she heard Melody would be returning home. Even Ash, who usually ate at least three platefuls, went to the boys' room without finishing his first plate. He knew that everyone needed to go his or her separate ways, but he took Misty leaving especially hard; knowing she'd return did little to console him. Neither Ritchie or Giselle could coax Ash back to his normal behavior, and Brock, understandably, was doing his best to keep his siblings calm while he babysat Lily and Violet.

"Hurry back with good news, Samuel," Delia silently pleaded.

Following the blaring of the foghorn, the S.S. Aqua was finally leaving the dock. Though she was still in foreign waters, the salty air filled Melody with a comforting nostalgia. A smile was still too much to ask for though.

'I bet Casey must be pretty mad since I ditched her so suddenly,' Melody thought with a sigh. It wasn't personal - she was actually starting to like having the squirt around. Melody was the younger sister in her family, so having someone she could boss around and be a role model for would have been satisfying. She had to beg and plead to convince her own sister to let her apply for a dance academy, and her sister only agreed under the condition that Melody get herself a job to start paying for it. And keep up with chores and practice for the 'Chosen One' festivals. And because of that blonde Miltank from Team Devastation, her plans were gone along with hopes of making a name for herself.

"Some vacation," she said to no one. A cool breeze ran along her shoulders, causing her to shiver. She wrapped her arms around her chest and felt the goose bumps on her bare arms. Her attire was definitely better suited to warmer weather. Although, with all the scars she was sure to have, she'd have to seriously consider going out in anything too revealing. Charming the next 'Chosen One' just got a lot tougher.

"Melody?"

Not expecting to hear Tracey's voice at that moment Melody reflexively jerked away from the railing. Acting quickly, the young Pokémon watcher grabbed her shoulders before she fell off her crutches. She almost thanked before remembering that it was his fault. An awkward silence passed and she looked up at him expectantly, but he seemed at a loss for words.

"Well?"

It was Tracey's turn to flinch this time. He wasn't sure what, but there was something about Melody that was keeping him from finishing things lately.

"Um, I was gonna ask you to come inside before you caught a cold."

Melody's expression quickly softened. She felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, warming her face in contrast to the cold penetrating the rest of her body, so she ducked her head, hoping he didn't notice as she listened to the sound of her heart beating against her chest. Unfortunately, her good feelings faded when her good eye focused on the crutches she was currently depending on.

"Yeah, well, catching a cold would be the least of my problems right now." Without giving him a chance to respond, she turned on her healthy heel and began making her way back to their cabin, being extra careful not to slip on the wet deck. Tracey ambled after, analyzing the last few seconds to figure out what he did wrong.

Unbeknownst to either teen, a figure was secretly watching from one of the lifeboats. The cool breeze blew the tarp concealing him, but no one noticed his presence while he studied the other passengers and crew.

"That's only two confirmed, but I'll bet the rest of them can be flushed out." He gave his surroundings another sweep before quietly climbing onto the ship's deck. No one was aware of his appearance so he quickly ran to the closest door and shut it behind him with a clank.

After two days of taking back roads to avoid being detected, Professor Oak had finally made it to the Indigo Plateau. The sky was clear and the crisp air gently ruffled his gray hair as though trying to assure him that his journey was finally over.

In front of him lay the aptly named Indigo building acting as another sign that their troubles were behind them. The normally quiet building that signified strength and ambition was currently hosting chattering people running in and out of the main office and side branches. Engines were being started as officials and informants left to gather data - only to be replaced new people and news people, both parties playing tug-o-war with new information on the threat Team Devastation presented.

Professor Oak carefully walked around an argument between a league official and a reporter over the public's rights versus league procedures. A waste of valuable time in Samuel's opinion.

The guard on duty in the lobby stopped Samuel at the sliding glass door, insisting that visiting ours were effectively canceled until this whole matter was settled. Samuel sighed. He was hoping to avoid revealing himself until he could secure an audience with the Chairman of the Board, but willingly submitted his league pass to the guard.

The guard reached out to take Professor Oak's ID card with a look of contempt - he'd already turned away dozens of self-indulgent reporters who felt their need of a promotion should qualify them an interview or two. As it was, the guard was unable to stop his eyes from bugging out when he saw the name of one of the, if not the most, famous researchers in the world. He could feel the tips of his ears burning as his eyes slowly rose from the picture to the genuine article standing in front of him impatiently. He quickly composed himself and saluted.

"Mr., er, I mean, Professor Oak," the guard stuttered. "To what do we owe this honor?"

Samuel casually coughed into his fist. "It's imperative that I speak to the board of directors and the Elite Four immediately."

"Sir, the Board is currently in the middle of an important meeting. Master Lance and the G-Men are currently investigating rumors of terrorist activity in Johto, and the remainder of the Elite Four are investigating the disappearances of the Gym Leaders."

Samuel could feel his anxiousness seething. Getting an audience with the League Directors wouldn't prove difficult, but he hadn't anticipated all of the Elite Four to be away from League HQ. Waiting was an option, but it would give Team Devastation time to cement their plans. No, he couldn't afford to waste even a minute; else Professor Cedar's sacrifice would be in vain.

"I don't have time for them to speculate! I know what their goals are, so get on the phone and tell them I'm coming up!"

The guard reeled back and quickly picked up the nearest receiver. Samuel strode toward the nearest elevator, pausing only to wait for the to unlock it. The door chimed and he quickly walked through, determined to end his role so he could return to everyone and rebuild their lives. If he hadn't been so focused on delivering the information, Samuel might've noticed the suspicious gleam in the guard's eye. The guard watched the doors close with a crafty smile. Picking up the receiver again, he dialed a number not found on the directory.

"He's on his way now," he reported. He listened intently to voice in the receiver.  
"Yes," he replied. "He claims to know what we're planning." The guard nodded unconsciously to the instructions he received. Without another word, he set down the phone and walked behind his desk, pulling out a blood-red card key from the drawer. He whistled as he walked over to the elevator. No one was around to see him swipe the card key into the lock pad. The doors opened with the same cheery chime before closing, sending him down with none the wiser.

'Lapras was a smoother ride.'

This wasn't the first time Tracey found himself thinking this way. It was a lucky thing he stocked up on erasers before boarding the ship. Although drawing normally calmed his nerves, he found himself unable to recall anything peaceful to draw. The last two days had been nothing but water, and while that wasn't stressful, it did little to erase the nightmares spawned from the events earlier in the week.

Tracey peaked from beneath his brow and confirmed that Melody hadn't moved from her spot on the bed across from his. She'd barely spoken to him since they'd set sail, barely mumbling thanks when he brought her meals from the cafeteria. He wasn't sure what to do. He didn't know Melody very well, and he was naturally shy around girls - a trait Daisy exploited often to get him to run errands for her.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even realize that he'd been drawing until his pencil stopped moving. Tracey looked down at his sketchpad and let out a yelp before throwing it down like it was a hungry Ekans. Fortunately, Melody didn't seem to notice his behavior so he quickly excused himself and left for the cafeteria. He got halfway down the hallway before he heard Melody's voice telling him to wait. Once she was close enough to see the confused look on his face, she gave him a small smile.

"You never pick anything I like," she explained like it should have been the most obvious thing in the world. Truthfully, she was cheered up a bit when she saw the sketch he'd drawn of her when they first met. As she walked in step with him, she couldn't stop herself from feeling content. Tracey would never be the heroic stud type, but she decided a guy able to remember and draw a flattering image of her from three years ago didn't really have to be.

"C'mon Ash," Giselle pleaded. "Aren't you gonna be a gentleman and come see me off?"

If the young trainer had heard anything she'd said in the past five minutes, he gave no discernible response. Giselle and Ritchie exchanged worried glances. This quiet Ash was a new kind of problem. Although his appetite was back, he'd been keeping to himself - even declining a friendly Pokémon battle.

"You should get yourself ready, Giselle," Ritchie advised. "I'm gonna go check on Casey and I'll meet you downstairs." She nodded in agreement before turning to give Ash a sardonic smile.

"Thank you, Ritchie. It's good to know someone here is capable of courtesy." Ash's eyes never left the ceiling. Giselle angrily stamped her foot. "Oh, forget it!" The frustrated teen stormed out of the room, slamming the door on her way out. Ritchie let out a sigh.

"So, what's on your mind that you didn't want Giselle to overhear?"

Ash had to laugh. He and Ritchie were so much alike, even in their taste of Pokémon; so it shouldn't have come as a surprise that Ritchie could guess that Ash wasn't ready share his thoughts with everyone. But Ritchie would probably understand what had been eating him.

"It's something Gary said before he left. He told me he was going to apply for the Pokémon G-Men. He figured that if he could provide them with information, they might accept him despite his age since he already possessed well-trained Pokémon."

"But Professor Oak would never allow that," Ritchie pointed out. Professor Oak had been adamant about not letting them involve themselves any further. Ash nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he didn't like it when he overheard us. It didn't make things any better when Gary threatened to apply overseas." Ash hadn't seen Professor Oak that mad since his Muk left slime on his research notes. "Professor Oak immediately confiscated Gary's passport. He slipped it to me when Gary wasn't looking - told me not let Gary's foolishness affect me."

Ritchie sat and waited for Ash to continue. It sounded like everything had been resolved unless...

"You didn't give Gary back his passport, did you?" In response to the accusation, Ash pulled out the passport he'd been given. When he opened it up, the picture revealed it to be Ash's.

"Gary never handed his over. I guess with everything going on, Professor Oak overlooked that Gary handed him mine." Before Ash had a chance to react, Ritchie had rushed over and grabbed Ash by the collar.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Pikachu and Sparky focused their attention on their trainers. Ritchie stared intently at Ash, but his friend refused to look him in the eye. Determined to prevent a fistfight between their trainers, both electric types used a combined thunder shock to separate them.

When the attack finally ended, both boys were on the floor with a familiar numb sensation. Ritchie picked himself off the floor and started dusting himself off. He waited in silence expecting Ash to say something, but when it became apparent that he had nothing to say, he started heading to the door. Just as he grabbed the knob, Ash told him to wait.

"Gary told me that things were different this time. I wasn't going to have any prophecies on my side, and my enemies weren't going to be the usual idiots who didn't play fair. If I screwed up, it wouldn't just be me paying the price." Ash slammed both fists on the bed and let out a frustrated snarl. "Misty was in danger and I couldn't do anything!"

And there it was - the reason Ash was acting so odd. He was used to stepping in to help people who needed him, and it usually worked out for the best. Not being able to save Misty must have bothered him greatly.

'And having her leave like that must have felt like she didn't feel safe with him, even though she promised to meet up with them again,' Ritchie realized. Pikachu must have also sensed what Ash was feeling, because he nimbly climbed to his trainer's head and patted him reassuringly. Ash looked to Ritchie expectantly.

"Just help who you can, Ash," replied Ritchie. "We aren't expecting you to save the whole world."

Not sure what else there was to say, Ritchie walked down the hallway till he was standing outside the girls' room. He could hear Delia's cheerful voice as he knocked on the door. She was practically glowing when she ushered him in. He gave a cheerful greeting to Casey who returned it with such a melancholic tone that he couldn't help being concerned.

"Did something good happen, Ms. Ketchum?" Ritchie asked. Whatever it was must have been good because she was still bouncing with each step.

"I just got a call from Samuel! He already made it to the plateau and scheduled a meeting with the Board men in the League." a smile eased unto Ritchie's face at the sight of Delia practically gushing. "He also told me to tell Ash to go ahead and submit Gary's application while there was still time. I didn't know Gary was applying for anything since he seemed happy with his current research department."

Ritchie felt his blood run cold. The only thing Gary was planning on applying for was the G-Men. Did the Professor change his mind? No, it couldn't be that. If Professor Oak got there safely, there would be no reason Gary would have to join. He must have had a troubled expression on his face, because Delia quickly noticed something was wrong.

"Is there something the matter, Ritchie?"

"Professor Oak is danger."

Delia's heart skipped a beat. She looked at the phone behind her as if waiting for Professor Oak to call and reassure her.

"W-what are you talking about, Ritchie?" She pointed at the phone behind her. "I just got off the phone with him not a minute ago."

"I know, but right now I just need you to trust me. We don't have any time to lose." He ran out of the room leaving Delia to worry again, desperately digging for his room key in his pocket. He slid the key and thrust the door open with one motion.

"What's going on?" Ritchie didn't answer and clamped his hand around Ash's wrist like a Krabby's vice grip. While he was dragging Ash downstairs, he filled Ash in on Professor Oak's call and implied message. He finished just as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"What took you so long?"

Ritchie skidded to stop in front of Giselle and Brock. With everything going on he'd completely forgotten that she was waiting for him. And from the looks of it, Brock had been given an earful in his stead.

"What are you doing down here Brock?" Ash asked.

"I convinced Lily and Violet to take the kids out for ice-cream," he explained. "I figured I might as well go take a walk and I happened to run into Giselle here."

"And I was waiting for you, Ritchie," Giselle fumed. "You know I have to be at the train station early."

"You're right, and I'm sorry," he apologized. "We can drop you off on the way, but we've got an emergency on our hands."

Brock and Giselle exchanged curious glances. "What's up, Ritchie?"

"I'll tell you on the way. Can you drive us, Brock?" Ritchie was already heading for the door before Brock could respond.

"Drive what? Violet has the van," Brock reminded. "We can't take the jeep."

"No problem," Ritchie assured. "We need something faster anyway." With a lighthearted smile he headed out the door, his friends close behind. It would seem things were not yet over.

**Remember to hit that button, please.**


	16. Ch 15: Rough Seas Ahead

A/N: Woot! Yes, I'm still alive. And on some occasions, kicking. Some More excitement in this chapter which is helping me build up to even better stuff. But you didn't click on the link to listen to (or read) me ranting incessantly. So without further ado, I present the latest chapter of Evolve or Be Devastated.

**Rough Seas Ahead****  
**

Thirty minutes had passed since the captain called for all passengers to meet in the ship's ballroom. The tables, normally covered in white satin tablecloths, had been unceremoniously scooted to the side to make room in the center. The sunlight streaming through the windows made the chandeliers sparkle wondrously, and this would normally be a romantic atmosphere under different circumstances, but Tracey was more concerned with Melody's condition.

His arm around her waist was probably the only thing keeping her upright. Even though she was clearly injured, the ship's security had insisted that all passengers cooperate to ensure it ended quicker. Tracey glanced at her pale face and grew more irritated that they were being kept waiting.

Enough was enough.

Just as he was about to lead her back to their cabin, the sound of someone clearing their throat echoed across the room and interrupted their escape.

"Attention passengers," came the captain's voice. "It has been brought to my attention that poachers have stowed themselves on board with intent to steal."

Worried whispers traveled through the crowd and frantic eyes searched for obvious signs of hostility.

Anyone could be an enemy.

Tracey could feel his chest tighten at notion of criminals on board. His first thought was of Team Devastation, but they couldn't have followed them all this way, could they?

"We would like all of the passengers to separate according to the following criteria: All those younger than twenty-five and unaccompanied by an adult, please gather on my left, the rest, please gather on my right."

Tracey tightened his grip on Melody to keep her from being knocked over by the other passengers in their haste to allocate themselves accordingly. Within minutes, the moving was replaced with an ominous silence. As Tracey observed the people surrounding him his heart sank; there were less than ten other unaccompanied kids their age gathered with them.

As security moved in closer to them, the other passengers quickly vacated the area as if making room for the hazard materials team to decontaminate the small group of people. One of the securities approached Melody with a smug contour, subtly nudging her forward and causing her to almost lose her balance. It didn't escape Tracey's watchful eyes, however, and before he could think about the consequences, he'd already approached the offending officer.

"Who do you think you are?" Tracey shouted as he grasped the man's shoulder and whipped him around. Tracey's eyes widened upon seeing the man's face, but two other securities tackled him to the ground before he could even blink.

The commotion from the crowd increased as they stood and watched one guard bind Tracey's legs. The other guard, fairly large in size rested his laurels on Tracey's backside, effectively pinning the artist's arms in the process.

Confident that Tracey was completely helpless, the first security officer began digging into the young man's pockets with his gloved hands, pulling out three red & white spheres. With a mocking chuckle, he held them where Tracey could see before putting them in his own pocket. His associates pulled the Pokemon watcher to his feet and led him out of the mess hall, soon to be followed by the rest of the unaccompanied minors.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It had been over an hour since Melody had been locked inside the S.S Aqua's detention quarters - more than enough time to conclude that no one else was under suspicion. The room itself was pretty plain compared to the rest of the ship, so whoever designed obviously wasn't concerned about a prisoner's opinion, much less basic needs. All she had was a stiff cot next to one of the cream colored walls - there wasn't even a clock on the wall.

'And the light in here is so dim I can barely make out my watch,' Melody grumpily thought.

Normally having bad visibility in a holding cell would have been bad thing, but ships nowadays used infrared cameras to monitor prisoners making it virtually impossible for prisoners to get the jump on any guards coming to check on them.

As it was, they could have probably left the door wide open without having to worry about her escape since the same creep who pushed her and confiscated Tracey's pokéballs also took her crutches. Things weren't looking good for her or Tracey - wherever he was.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door's latch. The contrasting light quickly spilled into the room, forcing her to shield her good eye. The door was only open for a second - long enough to push someone inside - before it was slammed shut, taking the light and any hope of escape in one swift motion.

She turned her gaze to her new company only to gasp in shock upon realizing that it was Tracey. She carefully dragged her bad leg as she scooted over to him. With some effort she managed to roll him onto his back to examine him better, trying not to grimace when she saw what he must have gone through.

His face was swollen and covered in bruises, including two black eyes he was now sporting. The front of shirt was stained with his blood,but she couldn't tell if came from his nose or his split lip. Who would do this?

And what did they want from them?

Tracey's eyes slowly fluttered open when he felt Melody gently caressing his cheek.

"Hey," he greeted with a labored smile. "Sorry you got dragged into this with me." Melody wiped away the tears that were forming.

"Are you okay, dummy?"

"If I ignore the pounding head and what feels like a cracked rib, then this is probably the most fun I've ever had on a boat."

Melody gave a grim smile at Tracey's humor despite the pain he must be in. "What did they want from you?" Tracey frowned.

"It's them. I don't know how they found us, but that was Butch who grabbed my pokéballs. "They're looking for the others." He ignored the sharp throbbing in his side and forced himself to his feet. "We've got to find a way to warn them."

"How?" Melody inquired. "We can't do anything unless we get out of here."

Tracey's brow furrowed. Melody had a good point. They needed to find some way to get them to open the door for them.

"I don't suppose we could convince them you're going into labor?" he suggested with a wry smile. Melody turned her nose up at the ridiculous idea.

"Since I wasn't pregnant when they brought me in, I don't think they're dumb enough to believe that nine months passed since you got here." Once she realized what she insinuated, Melody's face flushed brighter than a tomato berry. She could have sworn she saw Tracey's equally red cheeks before she turned her head in embarrassment. The sound of the door's lock saved them from the awkward silence. Both teens nervously watched the door open, neither sure who to expect.

"Can I come to the baby shower?" Gary asked in his best excited kid voice.

Tracey was, understandably, confused, because the last time he had seen Gary was when he waved them off from the ship's dock.

"How?"

"Blastoise is a lot faster in water and I had Scizor fly me up to a life boat. I was gonna call out to you until I saw the same grunt I bested back in Pallet wearing a security uniform." It suddenly occurred to Gary that he was doing a lot of sneaking around lately.

"I followed him and ended up finding our old friend whose name we never bother to remember, and on that note," he fished around in his pocket and pulled out three familiar spheres before dropping them into Tracey's outstretched hand.

"Picking his pocket proved easier than the time I lost my stethoscope to a Weepinbell, but I'll save that story for another time. We really need to get out of here."

Tracey nodded in agreement. He took Melody's hand and carefully raised her to her foot, but halfway to lifting her bridal style, the pain in his side flared. Gary frowned. He'd foreseen mobility issues with Melody, but Tracey would have to be seen to before they could escape. He carefully scooped up Melody and led Tracey out into the hall.

Fortunately, no one was around to sound an alarm and they were able to make it to the ship's sick bay undetected. After slipping him a painkiller, Gary tightly wound bandages around Tracey's chest.

"So, what's the plan?" Melody was leaning on a fresh pair of crutches and was ready to get out while they could. She sympathized with Tracy, but there wasn't time for him to recuperate.

"We need to get to the communications room and send out a distress signal," Tracey replied. "Even if the League has there hands full, they can send the coast guard to come secure the ship."

"First things first,"Gary said as he motioned them towards a conveniently placed white-board. He took a black marker and began drawing a series of lines until he had an accurate blueprint of the S.S. Aqua. When he scrolled back over to what was supposed to be the engine room, he turned towards them.

"This takes priority. I overheard Butch tell one of the grunts to plant a MD explosive in the engine room." Tracey nodded at the seriousness of the situation, but Melody could on scratch her head in confusion.

"Um, I guessing this is some kind of nuke, so does this mean that they're gonna blow themselves up too?"

"Well, no, it's not a nuke," Gary assured. "MD stands for Matter Deterioration. It's primarily used when archeologist's begin excavating because they can set the explosive so that it won't damage any fossils beneath the works by setting the device to give specific vibrations that only effect the specified material. If they adjust the range, the ship won't blow up, but it can't exactly stay afloat with a gaping hole either."

Melody gulped. She'd nearly lost a boat that way when she pulled up too close to some rocks.

"Shouldn't we tell the captain so he can send someone to remove it?" The look Gary gave her should have been enough to tell her she'd said something ridiculous, but Gary was never one to let an opportunity pass.

"Yeah, that could work," Gary agreed as he rolled his eyes. "Captain, I broke out of my holding cell because I had to tell you that someone, who isn't me by the way, is planning to sink the ship. In fact, it's the security guard that arrested me."

Despite his best efforts, Tracey couldn't quite stifle his laughter. Melody pursed her lips and shot him a look that clearly said "traitor". It was hard to argue with Gary when he'd made a valid point.

"But it doesn't make any sense," she insisted. "Why would they even want to sink this ship?"

"It could be a roundabout way to flush out Professor Oak if he gets in contact with a rescue operation," Tracey pointed out. "He would know it was our ship and if Team Devastation let it slip that Gary was here, even as a lie, I don't think Professor Oak could stay out of it."

"Either way, we can't let it happen," Gary agreed. "Tracey, I'll need to borrow your Venonat. I'll go down to the engine room while you take Melody to the lifeboats." Gary held out his hand, but Tracey shook his head.

"They're bound to be on high alert, even if they haven't noticed we're missing. If they went to all this trouble, they're not going to let a bunch of random kids interfere," he reasoned.

Gary paused to consider Tracey's point. He unconsciously tucked his chin and crossed his arms the way he always did whenever a tough decision had to be made. Tracey and Melody watched as he paced the room's perimeter before returning to the white-board. They waited in silence as Gary fished out a small notebook and a pen from his pocket, his quick writing stopping shortly before he ripped out the page and handed it to Tracey. It looked like a simple set of instructions, but Tracey didn't like where this was going.

"This is the new plan," Gary explained. "I'll go to the ships communication room and cause a distraction, while you go deactivate the device. Just don't lose that paper or we'll be in serious trouble."

Tracey notably flinched and loosely gripped the paper like he was trying to feed a teething rattata. He was about to question Gary's sanity, but he was cut off.

"It has to be you. I've got way more experience battling than you. We can't send Melody for obvious reasons."

Tracey couldn't resist scowling at his surprisingly reckless companion. He knew Gary was right, but having this kind of situation thrust on him left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"And if I can't disarm it?"

Gary shrugged. "If I can secure the bridge, I'll radio Officer Jenny and give her our coordinates. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out where we are."

"Give me a map, a compass and ten minutes and I'll find out where we are no sweat," Melody volunteered. Gary smirked. The familiar feeling of adrenaline pumped through his veins as though he were anticipating a fierce Pokemon battle. It was time to put the plan into action.

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Gary looked around the corner as cautiously as he could. So far they'd been lucky, but letting their guard down now could ruin everything. He looked back again to make sure that Melody was still keeping up with him. She was, but barely.

Melody knew that she was taking too much time, but she couldn't help it. She had already tripped once and put weight on her bad leg and now it was throbbing worse than usual.

Lady luck must have finally taken pity on them because they made it without running into so much as a bellhop. With one hand on the knob and the other on Nidoqueen's pokéball, Gary threw the door open and rolled inside.

His battle-ready expression was completely wasted on the empty room.

"If you're quite done, super spy," Melody chided. "Why don't you find me a map?"

Gary quickly coughed into his fist and holstered his finger, fully aware that he wouldn't be able to salvage his pride. He walked to the cabinets and began leafing through them.

While waiting for Gary, Melody gently eased herself into the closest chair. Her leg felt like it was on fire; she feared that she'd re-opened her wounds. She pulled up to the nearest desk and looked through the logs. Anything to distract herself. She came across an event guide and checked her watch.

"Well, no wonder why the hallways were bare and they left navigation to the backup systems. It's time for the ship's main party, and even the crew are attending."

Gary continued searching, starting processing the new information. He hadn't been on many luxury cruises, and the ones he had generally didn't excuse the crew from their stations.

Was the captain letting his guard down because they had just detained some trainers thought to be poachers, or there something special about the S.S Aqua's summer route that included the Orange Archipelago?

The fact that the ship was touring the Orange islands was strange in itself, because it had never been one of the routes since the ship had been completed. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but overlooking details was the easiest way for them to run into a deadly trap.

After finally finding the correct map and laying it in front of Melody, Gary grabbed hold of the mix for the loudspeaker.

"I've seen this trick used a bunch of times on the spy shows while I was on my break."

"I'm starting to think that you're real goal is becoming a member of the Pokemon G-Men," Melody remarked with a coy smile, unaware that she had accurately deduced Gary's current goal. Gary shrugged in an attempt to play it cool.

"I do plenty of research while I'm in the lab," Gary countered. "I was actually in the process of filing to extend my field research in the Sinnoh region before all this happened."

Melody didn't press any further; she knew all too well how Team Devastation had trampled over everyone's dreams. She grabbed a nearby compass and got to work, letting out a sigh for the bitter situation they were in.

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Tracey reread the instructions for what felt like the hundredth time. He still couldn't accept what was expected of him - there are people trained for this for a reason - and he wasn't so confident about his chances for success, cheat sheet or not. No, his training was centered on avoiding detection and breath control.

Lately it seemed like breathing was a luxury he couldn't afford to take for granted.

As he was about to look over the interactions again, he heard the crackle from the loudspeaker.

"To the green-haired gentleman, whose name escapes me at the moment, please report to the Captain's quarters to pick up your name tag."

Tracey sighed. Gary had said that he'd be using an obvious signal. As quietly as he could, Tracey slowly opened and started down the hall. As he moved further down the hall, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

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"I think I've found our general location. It looks like they didn't alter the course by that much," Melody reported. It was harder than she thought it would be with her impaired vision, but she was certain as she could be without being able to access the terminals.

If they continued on their current route, they'd be at Shamuti island in a day or less.

Gary's only response was a curt nod. He kept his eyes on the door with his dominant hand hovering between pokéballs. The first sign of trouble needed to be met with the perfect Pokemon on the first try or he and Melody might not get a second chance.

Melody picked up the headphones and held it to one ear while she tried adjusting the frequency. Working as swiftly as she could, she flipped through each channel after waiting long enough to confirm that their was no signal before moving onto the next one. She began chewing on her lip as frustration built up, and by the time she was halfway into her second cycle, the lack of progress erupted in a shout that caused Gary to accidentally release three of his pokemon.

After recalling his team members and listening to Melody's complaint, Gary tried the radio himself to see if a firsthand experience would enable him to figure out the problem. Unfortunately, his efforts were for naught.

For them to get this far only to run into this problem was a bit suspicious. Had the enemy anticipated their actions?

But then why would they let them attempt to call for help - it didn't make sense.

His thoughts were cut off by the telephone's ring. Melody looked at the receiver and saw that the call was coming from the engine room so she cautiously picked it up.

"Hello?"

Melody beamed at the sound of Tracey's voice.

"Tracey! Are you okay? Did you find the bomb?"

"I'm fine, but I need to speak with Gary!"

He did sound fine, but whatever he found must have been important because Tracey never yells. She passed the phone without another word. Gary put the receiver to his ear fully prepared to hear bad news, whether Tracey wasn't able to find the bomb, or worse, he'd been captured and forced to lure Gary to what was certainly a trap.

"Gary speaking."

"I've got bad news. There's no bomb here."

Normally that would be fantastic news. It would mean that they could leave without anymore casualties. There was just something gnawing at Gary's mind; something that made this whole situation seem worse than how it presented itself.

"Did you run into anybody on your way to the engine room?"

"No, the hallways were barren," Tracey replied. "Has anyone shown up there?"

Gary replied the same. Melody yawned as she balanced a pencil underneath her nose like a strange yellow mustache.

"It's almost as though we're the only ones on the ship," she remarked idly. The blood drained from Gary's face.

That was it. How could he have been that stupid?

Maybe he'd been around Ash for too long.

"Gary?" The sound of Tracey's voice snapped him back. There wasn't any time for rebuking himself.

"I'll be right there, Tracey. Keep looking for the bomb in the meantime." He hung up the phone before Tracey could question him. He made it to the door in three steps and turned the handle just as Melody asked him to wait.

"Where are you going?" She asked. "Did something happen to Tracey?"

There was a trace of fear in her voice, though she tried to hide it. Things had been going well enough, and Gary looked anxious enough to tear the door of its hinges. After a moment of careful thought, he quickly reached for his belt and placed a worn pokéball in her hands.

"I want you to check for any remaining lifeboats. If there aren't any, or if we're not back in twenty minutes, go on with out us."

"Are you crazy?" She exclaimed. "I'm not leaving without you guys!"

"Not if we make it back in time, no," he agreed. "Otherwise Blastoise will take good care of you." He was out the door before she could argue further. He dashed down the hallway as though a pack of Growlithes were nipping at his heels.

Melody stared at the pokéball in her hand and sighed.

"Why does every guy I meet run off to play hero?"

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Tracey paced the area of the engines for the fifth time. Something that shouldn't be there was supposed to be easy to find, especially since he was Pokemon watcher by profession. He'd expected that Marill wouldn't be of any use with his sensitive hearing unable to bear being so close to the engine. The problem was that his trusted Venonat was having trouble with his radar ever since he'd opened the door.

He approached the foreign device again, but it's purpose was still a complete mystery. It was shaped like a simple box bolted to the wall, but whoever had attached it had cared little about alignment. It wasn't made from any metal he was aware of and Scyther's blades weren't able to do more than scratch it. The only clue to its purpose was a small square panel on the front that would light up with a steady pulse before fading out again.

A loud clang sounded by the door. He quickly made his way back to find his Scyther's blade being held back by it's evolved form. Judging by the clean tears in his shirt, Gary had only narrowly avoided being cut in two.

"A little heads up next time, Tracey," he said before recalling his Scizor. His fingers traced the edges of what was his favorite shirt while Tracey guided him to the device.

"So, where's Melody?" Tracey wondered. He couldn't help but notice her absence, though it shouldn't have come as a surprise.

"I sent her to secure a lifeboat," Gary answered as though he were announcing the time. Before Tracey could respond, they'd arrived.

It didn't look like anything he'd seen before. He didn't have any time to examine it before the floor beneath them began shaking beneath them.

"Tracey?"

"What?"

"Run to the door as fast as you can and don't stop till we reach the deck!"

Tracey quickly recalled his Scyther as the tremors became more violent while they ran for the stairs. As they opened the door, the floor began compressing like a soda can until a sizable hole formed. The water rushed in immediately and filled the room as quickly as they closed the door. With water quickly trickling through the gaps, it was a safe bet that the door wouldn't hold for long. They took off running and hoped that the adrenaline pumping through their veins would carry them outside before the water did.

"What was that?" Tracey demanded.

"Apparently I misheard," Gary admitted. "I guess 'inside' and 'engine room' weren't in the same sentence as 'bomb'."

Tracey didn't have a chance to react because the door behind them was forced open by the water pressure. They turned down the next hallway they came to an increased their pace. The ship shuddered as more water entered making them fear the possibility of being unable to resist if the ship were to tilt them back to the forming flood.

Gary would kick himself if both legs weren't busy trying to keep the rest of him alive. He'd made so many mistakes today, and he wasn't the only one who would be paying for it. He never considered that Team Devastation would evacuate the ship and keep them busy. Whatever that device in the engine room was meant to do, it was built sturdy enough to withstand the water pressure, and sinking the ship would take care of any witnesses that needed getting rid of.

They made it to the deck gasping for air and sides cramping. The setting sun on the horizon gave just enough light to reveal that all of the life boats were gone. Tracey couldn't help but laugh at the irony: the beautiful glow in the distance would be the scene of their untimely demise. Every feeling whether related to joy or sorrow seemed to slowly slip from his body until all that he heard was the crashing of the waves.

No, that wasn't all that he heard.

"Gary!"

The watcher looked at his companion and confirmed that he wasn't hearing things. It was Melody. He waited a bit for her to call out for him, but she'd apparently written him off.

"Gary!" She called out again. "Hurry up and bring that idiot back so we can get out of here!"

His trained eyes spotted her, barely visible in front of the backdrop of clouds. They quickly ran towards her, renewed with energy from the new chance of survival.

"It's about time!" Melody yelled, though try as she might, she couldn't wipe the smile from her face that revealed how relieved she was that the boys were safe.

They wasted no time in lowering the boat into the waves. They needed to get clear of the ship before it sank or they could be pulled underwater themselves. After Melody returned his pokéball, Gary released Blastoise into the water behind them to give a much needed push. While his trusted starter propelled them forward, he thought about his next move.

After they'd reached the closest island, he'd part ways with Tracey and Melody. Truthfully speaking, Tracey wasn't really suited for the challenges that would undoubtedly lie ahead. Sure, he was a competent trainer, intelligent, and very observant, but he usually shied away from troubling confrontations. Besides, Melody couldn't be left unattended. Gary hadn't missed seeing her stumble and he was sure that she'd hurt herself.

It would have to be up to him. He made a silent promise as he looked back at the last of the once proud S.S. Aqua began sinking beneath the waves. A promise that Team Devastation wouldn't go unpunished for their actions, no matter what it took.

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"May I have you're attention please?" The Captain addressed all of the passengers in the lifeboats surrounding them. The anxious voices settled to a low murmur before finally awarding him the silence he required.

"I know that all of this has been a great ordeal and I thank you for your courage and cooperation." The words came smooth as silk, just as he had practiced since the unfortunate incident with the S.S. Anne so many years ago.

"I've been assured by our carefully selected head of security that the poachers have all been apprehended, and are being transported to a secure location for questioning. Unfortunately, the sabotaging of the ship was unavoidable. We are blessed to have been able to escape with our lives, and we should be thankful."

The nods and other affirmation helped ease the guilt the Captain was feeling. This was the second ship that sank on his watch, and he couldn't help but wonder if his ex-wife was right when she told him that he ought've been a dentist.

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Brock was carefully speeding down the freeway. As sure as he was about his built-in Officer Jenny radar, they couldn't afford to be pulled over. As he switched lanes to pass some old lady in a Honda, his mind wandered to what Ritchie had tried to explain.

*Flashback*

"There's a good reason why we have to be as discreet as possible," said Ritchie as he finished picking the lock on the fastest car in the parking lot.

He'd used this trick only twice in his life. The first had been when he rescued some Pokemon from Team Rocket while they were trying to transport them with a moving van. The second had been when he'd forgotten the key in the ignition of the same truck. It got easier each time, but Sparky never let him forget that blunder.

Ash, Brock and Giselle were speechless, both from what he was doing, and the circumstances he was implying. His justifying "borrowing" a car for their rescue operation left them all a little uncomfortable.

"In order for them to have intercepted Professor Oak at the League HQ, there are two possibilities," Ritchie continued. "The first possibility is that someone has been keeping tabs on us through visual or a tracer, which is why we shouldn't use the cars we have or we'll get caught before we can save him."

He made sure that everyone was on the same page before he explained further. Ash still seemed to be troubled by their dispute earlier, but he was the only other seasoned trainer they had so he would need to get over it. Pikachu seemed to down as well in response to his trainer's demeanor.

Brock rubbed his chin. His uncomfortable expression was clearly directed at his siblings and their well-being. If it were up to him, Ritchie would bring someone with less distractions, but Brock could drive and hold his own with his Pokemon. Ritchie felt a bit guilty thinking this way, but this might be about life and death.

"I guess that isn't impossible from what we've seen, but what's the other possibility?" Brock asked.

"There's a chance one or more spies are within the League itself," Giselle answered before Ritchie had a chance to. He had to admit, he wasn't expecting her to figure it out so quick.

Giselle was the hardest for him to read. They'd known each other for only a couple of days. She seemed bright, and he'd heard that she was a brilliant trainer who had given Ash and Misty a run for their money when they were younger. Hopefully her skills had grown stronger over the years.

"She's right," replied Ritchie. "So we've got to find a way to rescue Professor Oak without alerting anyone of our presence, or at least escape without any casualties. Are you guys up for it?" He held his hand out.

Three human hands and two Pikachu paws placed themselves on top.

*End Flashback*

Brock had entrusted his brothers and sisters with Violet and Lily. They agreed that taking them to Fuchsia City would be the best choice. Delia and Casey would follow soon. His heart felt a bit heavy when he thought about Joy. She had decided to retake her exams before her family could discover that she had failed and was currently on a bus to Celadon City.

Glancing at his passengers made him long for sleep himself. They would all need to be rested and ready for when they arrived in Viridian City. Despite the stress and worry from knowing what was in store for them, Brock couldn't help but laugh to himself.

How often did you hear about a gym leader challenging the Pokemon League?

* * *

A/N: Yay! So how was it? Good, bad or just passable? I won't know unless you tell me. Anyways, as I'm sure I already promised, my next update will be the possibly long awaited chapter 3 of Sokka's Stubborn Streak.


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